Mario and Luigi: A Superstar Story
by JellyUltraz
Summary: Superstar Saga adapt. When Princess Peach's voice is stolen by the evil witch Cackletta and her cohort, her pupil Fawful, Mario and Luigi journey to the Beanbean Kingdom to retrieve her voice! Unfortunately, it's not as easy as it appears to be...
1. An Unlikely Alliance

**So, this is my first story, apparently. Oh, and it's a novelization of Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga, so if you've played that game, then you'll feel familiar here for the most part, as there ARE some small added parts to this, and a few adjustments and things. One of them you'll see shortly in this chapter or probably already can. Things like that.**

**Well with that, may it be a good read for you! ^^**

* * *

Mario and Luigi: A Superstar Story

Chapter 1: An Unlikely Alliance

A letter landed on the window sill of Princess Peach's room. Princess Peach, who was reading a book, looked up and noticed it.

"I wonder what that letter's doing here." Peach asked herself as she picked it up.

. . .

_Princess Peach, you must hide. There is great danger coming to you soon. I will meet up with you soon in the Castle Gardens to discuss this in greater details._

_Prince Peasley_

. . .

It was a fine day in the Mushroom Kingdom. The Goodwill Ambassador from Beanbean Kingdom has arrived. Toads were lined up at each side of the carpet leading to Princess Peach's throne. Sounds were heard from one of the pillars near the carpet's end, followed by a female voice saying "Quiet! They'll hear us!" but no one took notice of the sounds.

The Ambassador was a Bean (a green creature from the Beanbean Kingdom) in yellow clothing, with a grin and a somewhat long nose. He was followed by a smaller bean, face covered by a chest he was holding. He was dressed in the same garb.

"I wish to improve my kingdom's ties with the Mushroom Kingdom." The Ambassador started. "I bring a gift from Queen Bean." The Ambassador finished as he bowed to Princess Peach. His follower approaching Peach, and allowing the chest to open. It revealed a doll with a green face and purple clothing on a spring. It quickly bounced up, and sprayed a foul colour changing gas cloud at Peach's face. She coughed as it covered her whole upper body.

"Eeeyah ha ha ha ha!" The Ambassador cackled, revealing herself as some kind of witch. She was wearing a cape with a purple outside, and a black inside. She wore a dress which was pink and ended in yellow, and had two purple things, which appeared to be ears. She raised her hands in the air, causing lightening to crash indoors, instantly making the Toads freak out and flee while the chest her follower was holding packed up and closed itself. Suddenly the walls turned into a constantly shifting rainbow colour. The follower revealed himself to be a grinning smaller bean, wearing a red cloth and circular glasses. Peach continued to cough in the gas cloud until a kind of headgear with two grey mini-jet packs on the sides, and a yellow/red vacuum on the top sucked up the gas cloud after landing on the witch's minion's head. The witch couldn't help but grin evilly at her handiwork. Once the gas cloud cleared up, Peach could be revealed to look exactly the same, but was waving her hand to try and blow away the gas, and using her other hand to cover her mouth. Seconds later, she slowed down and collapsed.

"Eeeyah ha ha ha ha!" was all that was heard as the witch and her minion laughed briefly, and they flew off (the minion using his headgear, and the witch using a rocket rocking chair to fly off) into the clouds.

. . .

Luigi was hanging the laundry (which mostly consisted of Mario's clothes) on a laundry line, until a Toad ran up to him.

"E-E-E-Emergency situation!" he cried, running on the spot. Luigi looked behind him, and stared at the Toad, waiting for information.

"Did you see the Kingdom Courier?" he asked. Luigi simply just shook his head, but at nothing as Toad had already ran into Mario and Luigi's house.

"MARIO!" he called, waiting for some kind response, until he realized he would get a faster response if he searched the house. He walked up the stairs, shortly glancing at the portrait of Princess Peach, past the window next to Mario's bed. He checked both beds, ignoring the mushroom lamp. He accidentally hit part of the railing on his head, and in his daze he stuttered back on the stairs, fell down them and nearly knocked the hammer on one of the tool pegs down. He regained composure, and walked back up the stairs. He didn't notice one part had no railing and fell off the side, landing on a purple carpet with a star on it. He walked into the bathroom due to the fact he could hear humming.

"Eeeeek!" Toad wailed, running out of the bathroom and crashing into some drawers. Mario, wearing a towel around his waist, walked out of the bathroom and jumped on Toad to wake him up.

"P-P-Princess P-P-Peach...P-P-Princess P-P-Peach..." he said weakly. Mario figured what this meant, ran outside, and jumped towards Luigi and the laundry line. Seconds later, he was dressed and accidentally got Luigi tangled in some rope. He made the most of it, and dragged Luigi with the rope.

"Here we go!" Mario said as they rushed towards Princess Peach's Castle.

. . .

**Princess Peach's Castle**

"Bro, slow down!" Luigi cried as they made it inside, and Mario slowed to a stop, flinging Luigi into the back of Bowser, who was standing in front of a crying Peach, with two panicked Toads at either side of her.

"Attacking me when my back is turned, huh?" Bowser growled as Luigi hid behind Mario. "Well, that's typical! C'mere, Super Coward Bros!"

Bowser approached them; making Luigi dive to the side, and Mario courageously stood his ground. This initiated a battle.

"How the heck did I end up on the left and how is Bowser suddenly on the right? And how the heck did Luigi get back there, he was to the right!" Mario asked.

"You're in a battle, Mario. When in a battle, you're usually on the left along with any other people fighting you, and the enemy is usually on the right. Any other stuff is usually on the sides." Toad explained.

"Got it!" Mario gave a thumbs-up, and jumped on Bowser, dealing two chunks of damage. Bowser then approached Mario, and blasted fire at him. Mario didn't see this coming, and took 1 bit of damage.

"Mario!" the Toad to the left of Peach called out, having Mario's full attention. "When was your last battle? Did you already forget about your Action Commands?"

"No, I was just caught off-guard. I'm a little rusty, but I still know 'em, thanks for asking though." Mario said.

"Oh, really? I should have known! Sorry for the interruption." Toad said, stepping back next to Peach and continued to freak out like the other Toad.

Bowser stopped paying attention at the word "Mario!" so he didn't expect Mario to jump on him, allowing him to deal damage. This got Bowser mad, and he spat out more flames, which Mario dodged this time, making Bowser even angrier.

"Bro, sock it to him!" Luigi called, watching from the sides. Mario nodded, and proceeded to jump on him yet again.

"Mario!" the Toad to the left of Peach called out again, having Mario's full attention yet again. "I forgot something! This is really important! You can also dodge Bowser's attacks! Do you want to know how?"

Mario let his palm connect to his face.

"Toad, didn't you see me dodge that last attack?"

"Sorry, I was in that panicked state, and I was thinking about the Princess…"

"What did happen to her anyway? Why is she crying?"

"I'll explain that once you defeat Bowser. Sorry for the interruption!" Toad said, and went back into panic mode, again.

Bowser then saw this as a chance to strike, and blasted a few more flames at Mario, catching him off-guard, and dealing another bit of damage. Mario was set on fire thanks to this, and he panicked.

"STOP, DROP AND ROLL! STOP, DROP AND ROLL!" Mario chanted, rolling about on the floor while still on fire. Bowser chuckled.

"Grahaha! Barbecued Plumber! Delish!" Bowser taunted, Luigi running into the scene with a bucket of water, and putting out Mario's fires.

"Thanks, Luigi." Mario sighed. Luigi tipped his hat in acknowledgement.

Mario instantly jumped up and kicked Bowser while he was guffawing his head off, not noticing the fact that Mario's flames had been doused, dishing out more damage.

Mario dodged Bowser's flames, and jump kicked him again, dealing even more damage.

Bowser made a last-ditch attack, which Mario dodged and landed on Bowser's head yet again, dealing another two chunks of damage.

"Urk! Blaargh…" Bowser groaned, and fell to the floor.

Bowser got up several seconds later, shaking off his recent injuries.

"Uh… W-Wait a second! Listen… This is no time for fighting! …Even though I would've won!" Bowser yelled.

"Listen to me, everyone! Something terrible has happened!" the Toad on the left called out "The Goodwill Ambassador from our neighbour, Beanbean Kingdom, just paid a visit!"

"Well?" Mario asked, waiting for answers.

"Yeah! But it was no friendly visit!" the Toad on the right then called out, "The ambassador stole Princess Peach's voice!"

Mario and Luigi jumped in shock.

"*insert random symbols*" Peach cried sadly as the Toads next to her fled. The very words fell out of the sky and blew up the carpet.

The Toad on the left returned to finish the other Toad's explanation. "…and replaced it with this explosive vocabulary!"

"*insert random symbols*" Peach cried yet again, setting off another explosion, though luckily everyone ran off once Peach began to speak, so they weren't hit by the blast's radius.

"Gah! If I kidnap Princess Peach in this state, she'll wreck my castle!" Bowser growled once he returned along with the Mario Bros "Mario! Do something super!"

Mario stood there, waiting for some kind of indication of what he should do.

"Mario! Please! Go and retrieve Princess Peach's beautiful voice! Only you can do it!" the Toad on the left returned and requested.

"Never fails." Mario mumbled with a smirk. He then waited for information on WHERE her voice was taken to and HOW to get there.

"The perpetrator came from the Beanbean Kingdom!" explained the Toad on the right, who also returned. "If you head over there, should be able to learn more!"

"Bwa ha ha ha! Yes! Go, capture that fiend and get back Peach's voice! And then I can kidnap her!" Bowser chuckled as he pounded the ground to get Mario's full attention. "We'll take my Koopa Cruiser and reach the Beanbean Kingdom in no time! Mario! We leave immediately!"

"Works like a charm." Mario thought in his head as he smirked again.

"*insert many random symbols*" Peach sobbed as she spoke.

Everyone ran out of the building, as the entire castle was caught in the blast radius, somehow not taking much damage, however.

* * *

**I would have made this part longer, but I have a plan, mind you, and this way, I can fit in the next section AND the one after it into the next part. And before you ask about that letter thing at the start, well I HAD to put that in there, you'll see why later. ;D**

**Oh, and for a few days Chapter 1 of this story was Chapter 1 of NSMBX, another story of mine. Yeah, I'm THAT stupid. :P**


	2. Plaza Preparations

**This used to be merged with Chapter 3, but then I finally cut the 4.5K chapter into two after half a year, and now this is the first half of it, relatively unchanged like the latter half.**

* * *

Mario and Luigi: A Superstar Story

Chapter 2: Plaza Preparations

Mario strolled into the Toad Town Plaza, eyes meeting with a nearby Toad.

"So! Off on an adventure yet again!" the Toad said. "…I just hope your long vacation hasn't left you out of shape. You can stretch out and warm up here in the plaza. Oh, and I'd talk to everyone around here. Who knows what you might learn?

Mario nodded as he jumped on to higher ground instead of taking the stairs, walked past a fountain and talked to a female Toad.

"Oh! Mario! Your moustache looks so silky-smooth today! Show me that super jump!" she gushed as Mario nodded, and vaulted into the air, spinning stylishly, landing and making a pose.

"Oh! That was so awesome!" she cheered happily. "Mario, you're the only one in the whole world who can jump like that! You rule!"

Mario then strolled north, jumping on to a low bush and on to a higher one. He talked to the Toad up there.

"This is weird… I can't seem to find my precious belonging." He began, closing his eyes for several seconds to think. He opened them and spoke. "Mario! Do you think maybe you could help me look for it?

Mario was off.

"I think I dropped it while I was walking up here, so focus on this ledge, OK?

Mario darted south, seeing a precious belonging near the back of a building, and took it.

"Hey! That's it! That's the precious belonging I was looking for! Thank you! You are the best! The BEST! Please take this in return!" He cheered as he handed Mario a 1-UP Mushroom and jumped off the ledge.

Mario saw an item block on a ledge a fair distance away and as high as the one he was on, and picked up speed, and leaped with perfect timing, landing north of the block and hitting it to retrieve his reward, which was a Mushroom. He then went east, seeing a Toad trying to reach a mushroom on a low ledge. Mario jumped up and snagged it.

"Oh! Wow! My Mushroom! You got it for me?" the Toad asked.

"That was your mushroom?" Mario asked as the Toad nodded. "Yeah, of course."

"Oh, thank you so much! Yes! But… Say, you're going to the Beanbean Kingdom soon, huh? You'd better keep it, then." The Toad said slowly as he took out a Super Mushroom and handed it to Mario. "And please take this as a going-away gift! I insist! And good luck with all your jumping and stuff over there in the Beanbean Kingdom!"

Mario saw another item block to the east, jumping off the ledge he was on, and on to another low ledge, where he leaped on to a higher ledge. He ran to the block, bashed it and received a Mushroom.

"It's safe to be prepared!" Mario said to himself as he hopped off the ledge and walked north, where he met one member of the Bowser Baddies.

"Oh, dear! Ack! Trouble! I've gotten separated from the Bowser Baddies…" the Koopa said. "Um, listen… Do you know where Lord Bowser has gone?"

Mario nodded.

"Great! Which way did he go?"

Mario sweat-dropped. He assumed since he came from the south exit, it couldn't be it, and you can't go anywhere if you go east or west, so Mario guessed Bowser went north like he thought.

"Thatta way!" Mario said, pointing to the north exit.

"Oh, OK. Thanks. It's almost time to assemble, and boy, I can't miss that! I've gotta hurry!" the Koopa said as he bolted north. Mario followed him to the north exit, where Luigi was.

"Bowser!" Luigi started. "He went north!"

"Got it." Mario confirmed as he headed north, shortly tailed by Luigi.

Mario decided it would be best to talk to a few people, to get some information, if they had any, about the Beanbean Kingdom. He talked to a female Toad.

"Yeah, so I recently returned from a really nice trip to the Beanbean Kingdom. Ah, Hoohoo Mountain, Oho Ocean, Chucklehuck Woods, Teehee Valley… So much to see!" She said. "I've recorded all my travels in my Album!"

Mario had a good idea of the kinds of places that were in the Beanbean Kingdom now.

"Bro! Now that you have some information, maybe you should go to Bowser!"

Mario nodded, and they ran north.

"MASTER MARIO!" Toadsworth called, riding to the Bros on a suitcase. "It would appear I'm just in time! I have prepared a suitcase for you to take with you on your long journey! I'm quite sure it would prove useful, as it holds many items and outfits. Please take it!"

Mario took the suitcase, and put it away.

"Once you board the Koopa Cruiser you can take your time and through it. Now then, I have one more parting gift, as it were: some funds for your trip! Here you go…" Toadsworth said, as he handed Mario a bag holding 100 coins. He then finally noticed Luigi nearby.

"Oh, gracious! Master Luigi! Are you going to the Beanbean Kingdom, as well?"

"Oh, no! I'm here to see my bro off!"

"Ah! You're seeing Master Mario off? A capital idea! I do believe I'll join you. Master Mario! I'm going on ahead. I shall be waiting for you in front of the Koopa Cruiser." Toadsworth said as he walked towards where the Koopa Cruiser was.

Mario expected there to be all sorts of minions, but there was only the Koopa he had guided waiting there.

"Where the heck is everybody?" he asked.

"That's what I'm thinking!" Mario replied.

"Maybe they're late…" Luigi thought.

"MARIO!" a voice yelled. Mario looked around, and realized it was Bowser, who was on the deck of the Koopa Cruiser. "You're late! What were you doing?"

"I was gathering information, helping people and receiving what could be life-saving items for the journey! Sheesh, it's not like your forces aren't later than me!" Mario shouted back.

"Eh, I'll deal with them later… Anyway, we're leaving! Right now! So get on board, and make it snappy!" Bowser ordered.

Mario shrugged, jumped on board, and landed next to Bowser.

"Gwa ha ha ha! Well? So? What do you think? Incredible, isn't it? This is my newest weapon: the Koopa Cruiser!"

"Eh, not bad."

"Hmm… Yes, very good… Now all I need are my baddies…" Bowser pondered. "Bowser Baddies!"

Luigi continued to wave with the hand he was holding his hat in, while the lone Koopa waited for something to happen. Everyone then stared at Bowser.

"GAAH! Where are they?!" Bowser raged, and then he noticed Luigi waving and jumping there. "Huh? What in green blazes…? Hey! You! Are you signing up to join my crew of Bowser Baddies?"

Luigi continued waving and jumping.

"I see! I see! You want me to bring you along that badly, huh?"

Luigi put his hat back on, and looked around.

"Me?" Luigi asked.

"Yes, you!"

Luigi started shaking his head rapidly.

"Gwa ha ha har! Oh, that's rich!" Bowser chuckled. "Don't be modest, Mr. Green! I mean, you look like a real pain, but I'll take you anyway!"

Luigi made a run for it.

"Hey, you! Stop!"

But suddenly, a Koopa waltzed in, and Luigi was knocked back to where he was.

"Your Gnarliness! The Baddies have just arrived!" the Koopa said, looking south, he then called "Hey! The assembly area is over here, you blithering idiots!"

Just then, the Baddies all lined up. 5 Green Koopas for the first row, 5 Red Koopas for the second, and 5 Goombas for the third.

"Wow, one big army you got there." Mario taunted.

"Don't test me! This is just on short notice!" Bowser growled, folding his arms and turning his back to Mario.

The Baddies approached the Cruiser, making Luigi back up towards it too out of fear.

"All Baddies have assembled! We shall now begin boarding the Koopa Cruiser!" the Baddies cheered.

They all loaded into the Cruiser while Luigi fought his way to get past the Baddies.

"War har har! Good! Then we can depart! With an increased head count, too! Excellent!" Bowser chuckled.

"Your Filthiness, boarding is now complete!" a Koopa cried. "…Except for one deserter…"

"WHAAAAT?!" Bowser yelled. "Move it, you idiots! Initiate Cruiser pursuit!"

The Cruiser zoomed after the deserter, who was Luigi. Luigi ran across the runway, dodging the Cruiser's grappler several times before tripping and getting snatched by the legs.

. . .

**The Skies Above Mushroom Kingdom**

In the room which had the Grappler, Luigi was sitting near a rounded corner on the Koopa Cruiser, while Mario was thinking next to the Grappler.

"Hey! You! Down there in the ship's belly! Mario and…what's-yer-name! Green guy!" a voice boomed through a speaker. Mario and Luigi jumped to attention. "Mario! And…Mr. Green Mario Brother Guy! Look alive down there, will you two? We're about to arrive in the Beanbean Kingdom! If you need to, open your suitcase, arrange your stuff, and get ready to roll. Then report to the deck. Pronto!"

"Okey dokey! Let's-a-go!" Mario said, ready to leave the room.

"I'm right behind you, bro!" Luigi called, running up to him.

They walked into the next room, to see a bunch of Koopas. Mario talked to a lone one just for the heck of it.

"Yeah, so, you may not know this, but we Bowser Baddies recently added a new member. Yup. He's in training until we land in the Beanbean Kingdom."

"Wonder who the new guy is." Luigi thought.

They walked east towards a Bros Block. The duo got several hits out of it before it when brown. Then they continued on to the next section, which had several Koopas lined up for getting a picture taken by the Camera Koopa.

Luigi led them north.

"Hey, there! You two!" the Camera Koopa called. "Yeah! You two mustache dudes! You're about to enter the Beanbean Kingdom, so you have your passports with you, right?"

"Err; I left them in my other pants." Mario said nervously.

"Yoshi ate mine." Luigi simply said. Mario gave him a puzzled look.

"Well, it looks like you've got a suitcase there…" The Camera Koopa trailed. "Tell you what, go ahead and open your suitcase, OK?"

Luigi kicked open the suitcase.

"Why, you've got 'em right here! These are your passports!"

"Toadsworth must have gotten us new ones and put them in there." Mario assumed.

"But… Hey! There aren't any photos!"

"Hey, at least that means he didn't sneak into our house and take pictures of us without us knowing. Like when we're sleeping." Luigi said optimistically.

"These won't get you into the Beanbean Kingdom. No sir, no way, no how!"

Luigi started wigging out.

"Don't wig out about it, though. If we take your pictures here, we should be just fine.

Luigi gave a sigh of relief. Mario just shrugged.

"Since the Great Bowser called you out to the deck, I'll let you two cut the line."

"Get in line, cutters!" a Koopa raged from the background.

Mario grinned sheepishly.

"Snapping photos is easy! Just stand on that mat there. See it? Right there." The Camera Koopa said, returning to his camera. "Step on to the map once you're ready! No hurry!"

Mario vaulted on to the mat stylishly.

"Now, Mr. Green 'Stache, you step back." He said as Luigi stepped back. "OK! I'm gonna take it! Oops! I forgot to tell you…"

"What?"

"Listen, when you're getting your picture taken, stand still. Don't go holding a pose."

"Now you've made me want to do a pose."

"Never ask someone not to do something; you'll just make 'em want to do it even more." Luigi said as if it was obvious.

"And away we go! Ready? Say CHEEP CHEEP!" he said. When Mario heard the words of his aquatic foe, he got into a battle stance and shouted "Where? Where?" just as the camera flashed.

"You're next, Mr. Green 'Stache."

"What? No Cheep Cheep?" Mario asked.

"There never was bro." Luigi said as he stepped on the mat.

"OK, Mario, you step back, nice and easy."

Luigi closed his eyes.

"Stare right into the camera! Don't do some goofy pose!"

"Hey, Green 'Stache, your shoe's untied!" said the same Koopa who was annoyed at them "line-cutting".

Luigi panicked, and the picture was taken.

"Great! I've taken passport photos for both of you! Aren't we all happy now? Happy all around!"

"That wasn't very nice." Luigi said, directed at that Koopa who lied to him, once he knew his shoe already was tied.

The Koopa shrugged at Luigi as he dashed after Mario, who hit a block containing a Mushroom. The duo then went south and passed a few crates, hit another block containing a mushroom, and talked to the nearby Koopa.

"Hmm… That goes there… and this goes here…" the Koopa said, stacking some small crates near the big crates. "Working the hold isn't easy… And if you mess up, you have to start all over again. Oh! Mario! It's me! That lost guy!"

"You know him?" Luigi asked Mario. Mario nodded.

"Hey, thanks for telling me which way to go back in the Mushroom Kingdom! I was kind of panicking… But then, thanks to you, I was the first one to board the Koopa Cruiser! Here! Let me give you this…" the Koopa cheered as he handed Mario a 1-UP Mushroom. "It's nice to be nice!"

"Anyway, let's keep going…" Luigi trailed as they climbed up the stairs.

The Mario Bros kept walking east until they saw a barrel south of them. It was blocking their way, so Mario kicked it.

"Hey! Watch it, you clumsy oafs! Don't break the Great Bowser's cargo! It's important stuff!" a Koopa nearby yelled.

"Do you know where the deck is? We need to get there." Mario asked.

"Pronto!" Luigi added.

"The deck? The deck's just ahead." The Koopa said. "Uh… But before you get there, I need to make sure you won't slow Lord Bowser down…"

"What are you implying?" Mario asked, slightly offended.

"So… I'll teach you how to fight as a pair!" the Koopa finished.

"Please do!" Luigi said.

"Then go have a look at that barrel over there. But remember… you're about to face the best of Bowser's most elite troops, so prepare yourselves. One way or another, SOMEONE will be getting wrecked at the end of this, and it won't be a pretty sight."

"I wonder what that elite troop is…" Luigi asked himself while Mario jumped on the barrel, and it broke. The remains shifted, something growled. Whatever inside that barrel was apparently going to be one of the toughest foes in Bowser's army, something that MAY just be able to take them both out in one hit. Something so overpowered that it broke the scale, something with such power, speed, agility and durability, the PERFECT minion... and THEY had just stepped out of the remains...


	3. A Disrupted Cruise

_"Then go have a look at that barrel over there. But remember… you're about to face the best of Bowser's most elite troops, so prepare yourselves."_

_"I wonder what that elite troop is…" Luigi asked himself while Mario jumped on the barrel, and it broke. The remains shifted, something growled. Whatever inside that barrel was apparently going to be one of the toughest foes in Bowser's army, something that MAY just be able to take them both out in one hit. Something so overpowered that it broke the scale, something with such power, speed, agility and durability, the PERFECT minion... and THEY had just stepped out of the remains..._

Mario and Luigi: A Superstar Story

Chapter 3: A Disrupted Cruise

Luigi hid his eyes as the remains of the barrel shifted, and a pair of Goombas popped out.

"THAT'S the best of Bowser's most elite troops?" Mario cracked up instantly and was rolling on the floor in laughter. Luigi peeked, and started laughing too.

"Now then, little Baddies… Attack Mario! ATTACK!" the Koopa ordered, and just as a Goomba was about to hit Mario, the Koopa yelled out "Jump now, Mario!" which was timed to dodge and repeated the same for Luigi, except the timing was good enough to be able to counterattack.

"So as you can see…depending on how you time your jumps, you might not only dodge, but counterattack, as well! The thing is, though… There are some attacks, like Bowser's flames, that you can't counter. All righty, then! Practice up!" the Koopa explained, and was about to leave, when he remembered something. "Oh! Whoops! I almost forgot! You attack the same way as when there's only one of you. NOW you can practice up!"

Now that explanations were over, Mario allowed his foot to connect to a Goomba's head, dealing half of its health in one attack. Luigi then followed suit, doing damage as well. Luigi cheered while Mario applauded him, but a Goomba interrupted that by attacking.

"YOU KILLED JOEY!" it screamed, but didn't live long as Mario and Luigi bounced off its head. They gained experience for that battle.

The bros moved south, and then broke the barrel blocking the way, which revealed another two Goombas. Mario jumped on one, while Luigi the other. Then they both counterattacked them with a kick sending them back to where they were, and then finished off their respective Goombas with a simple pounce at them.

"Hey, I levelled up! So, I just chose a stat to boost, and roulette starts. The number I get determines how much of a stat boost I get. There's **HP**, which are our health points. When they hit 0, we faint. **BP**, being Bros Points, which allows me and Luigi to do all kind of team attacks. **Attack**, which determines how hard we hurt stuff. **Defence**, which determines how much damage we take. If it's higher, we take less damage. **Speed**, which determines how early we get our turn and **'Stache**, which is basically our luck, the higher it is, the more "Lucky!" hits we get. It also gets us a discount in shops." Mario cheered and explained, choosing Attack to boost with the roulette, and getting an extra 3 Attack.

. . .

Somewhere, a wall was severely damaged.

. . .

"C'mere, you!" a Koopa called, chasing a Goomba. "C'mere, you!" He managed to corner it, but the Goomba was fast and dodged the Koopa's lunge at him.

"Hahhh… Hooffff… Haarfff… It's too quick! I can't catch it… And I have to get ready for Beanbean Immigration…Oh! It's Mario and…Mr. Greenie! Can you two help me out? I'll teach you something important about going into battle in the process! No charge!" the Koopa requested. Mario and Luigi followed him to a switch.

"Now, you can catch these guys… But first, you have to stomp 'em and start a battle." The Koopa started to explain. Mario jumped in the air, and put all his weight on to the Goomba's head, dealing some damage to both him and his cohort.

"That's right! If you stomp on a monster as soon as you enter battle… It'll start the battle by taking damage! Youch! Well? Isn't that super-cool? Anyway, the rest is up to you!" he finished, walking off. "Oops! I forgot something… If you fail to stomp on a monster and it hits the dude in the back when you enter battle…Then that guy can't move until his turn comes! Watch out!"

Mario smashed his foot into the face of a Goomba, and it was before it could move. Luigi jumped on the other, finishing him off too, and Luigi levelled up.

"I think I'll choose HP…" Luigi thought to himself as he got lucky and got +3 HP. Mario grabbed the Goomba who was still there, and handed it to the Koopa, who placed it near a corner, pressed a switch and a barrel fell over the Goomba, trapping it.

"Hoo, thanks!" he cheered. "Hey, can you get that other guy?"

Mario jumped on the other Goomba, and bounced on to a Goomba who had joined the first, dealing damage to them both. Luigi tackled one Goomba, defeating it, and Mario ground pounded the other.

"Hoo, thanks!" he cheered as he repeated the process with the second Goomba, the other one running away. "Now I'm all ready!

Mario and Luigi then walked to the next floor via stairs. Only one more floor till they reached the deck.

"Huh? Buh? What in the… Hey! Who did this? Who put cargo in cargo in this area?! How are we supposed to get to the deck with this in the way?"

"All I can say is that WAS NOT me." Luigi stated.

"Hey, there's a block there, let's hit it!" Mario said pointing at said block as Luigi hit it, causing a crane to drop down. Mario and Luigi attempted to direct it to the cargo. Then it "pinched" Luigi out of the ground.

"Uh-oh! Looks like the crane mistook you for cargo…" a Koopa explained.

"I AM NOT CARGO!" Luigi wailed, dangling by the butt.

"That looks uncomfortable…" the Koopa mumbled as he winced at how it was holding Luigi. "Hey! Since you're up there, why don't we use you as a lookout?"

. . .

Mario and Bowser were standing on deck, and Luigi was looking through some binoculars keeping an eye out while still on the crane, being gripped by the butt.

"Your Rancidness! We will soon pass over the border between the Mushroom and Beanbean Kingdoms." A Koopa called out.

"Hmm! Nice work! You can go back belowdecks. Now." Bowser ordered as the Koopa walked back down. Luigi suddenly started freaking out.

"Eh? What's with all the hoopla?" Bowser asked, answered with a laser blast to the face, which knocked him back and caused Luigi to fall down, back on the deck. "RAWR! What now?"

"Eeeyah ha ha ha ha!" the witch cackled on her rocket rocking chair. "Who would have thought you'd catch up to the Great Cackletta in even a hundred million years?"

"You! You're the fiend who stole Peach's voice! How dare you pull of such a cool evil plan?"

"Eeyah ha ha ha! Oh, I dare!" Cackletta cackled again. "And now I'm going back to the Beanbean Kingdom so my next plan can take root! I have no time to chat with the likes of you! Fawful! Take care of this!"

"GWAAAARRR! HOLD IT!" Bowser called as Cackletta zoomed off on that awesome chair and her minion flew closer to Bowser.

"Eeeyah ha ha ha ha!" Cackletta's minion chortled. "I am the great Cackletta's most best pupil, who is named Fawful! I am here, laughing at you! If you are giving us the chase just to get your silly princess' voice, then you are idiots of foolishness! Princess Peach's sweet voice will soon be the bread that makes the sandwich of Cackletta's desires!"

"You're making me hungry." Mario simply said, rubbing his stomach and listening to it rumble.

"And this battle shall be the delicious mustard on that bread! The mustard of your doom!"

Mario: o.O

Fawful blasted Bowser, knocking him back into the wall. Mario and Luigi rushed to Bowser to see if he was OK, then looked back where Fawful was, but he wasn't there. Luigi looked behind him.

"Eeeyah ha ha ha ha!" Fawful chortled, making Luigi yelp from the shock, but Mario saw it coming, and didn't change face, and instead attempted to punch him in the face, but missed. "Next it is the turn of you!" Mario and Luigi readied for battle.

Mario started with a jump, which dealt some damage, and Luigi did the same, dishing out pain too.

"Fink-rat!" Fawful exclaimed loudly as he blasted at Mario, who was confused by what Fawful said, and the shot blasted off some of Mario's HP. Mario returned the favor, and let his feet smash into Fawful's face, allowing him to return the damage. Fawful was still smiling, even if his HP was getting low. This confused Luigi, and he slipped off Fawful's head, doing only a fraction of what he could have done.

"Ow… Grrr…" Bowser moaned. He crawled on over to the Bros "Hey, wanna dodge this nut's attacks?"

"Yeah, I could use some help. His attacks confuse me." Mario answered.

"Before he attacks… watch what he says… really careful!" Bowser instructed, waving his finger.

"Such mumbling! Stop it... Fink-rat!" Fawful cried loudly.

"When the stuff this nut says is loud…"

"Yes?" Mario asked as Fawful let loose a blast aimed at Mario.

"He's attacking YOU, Mario!" Bowser shouted just before it was about to hit Mario, just in time for Mario to jump and dodge it.

"All enemies have a hint in their attacks. So keep your eyes on them."

"I am thinking you are needing of the shutting up! Fink-rat!" Fawful said quietly as he blasted an energy ball at Luigi.

Luigi remembered Bowser's instructions, and figured when the guy said stuff quietly, he was aiming for him. Luigi dodged it without a sweat. Then the duo jumped on Fawful again, and before Luigi even landed, Fawful attacked again.

"Fink-rat!" He shouted quietly, blasting Luigi since he didn't get time to react. "Eeyah ha ha! Your pain is the meat my blasts feed on like the most ravenous of meat-chompers!"

"It feels like someone pinched me." Luigi said, taking hardly any damage from the blast.

Mario and Luigi bounced off Fawful's head again.

"Have you readiness for this?!" Fawful said loudly as he shot two energy balls at Mario and Luigi. Mario dodged his first, then Luigi barely dodged the one aimed at him. Then they jumped on his head again.

"Ooof!" Fawful cried as his headgear was destroyed. "Now is when I ram you, like the data your pain is programmed on!"

"What?" Luigi asked as he was suddenly rammed by Fawful, taking little damage. Mario and Luigi then bounced off Fawful's head again. Then Fawful rammed Mario suddenly, damaging him. Mario gave kick to Fawful's face, sending him rolling back. Luigi suddenly slipped off Fawful when he jumped, dealing only a drop of damage. Fawful managed to ram Luigi again, and the Bros fought back with some vicious kicks.

"This is really dragging on…" Luigi trailed.

"Come on, let's end this!" Mario shouted, getting a bit tired.

Mario jumped, triple-flipped and crashed on to Fawful, though even with though it was a stylishly awesome jump, it still gave the same general amount of pain to Fawful.

"Ooof!" Fawful groaned. "Uhnnrgh… How could fink-rats like you beat such an awful nasty like me?"

"Because we're not fink-rats?" Mario shrugged.

"I cachinnate at your foolish assumption only a fink-rat could be coming up with! Headgear!" Fawful called as his headgear, which somehow fixed itself during the other half of the fight, and flew to Fawful, and he soon had his trusty headgear on his head again. "I have fury! Now is when the talking stops! I do not have time to stop and smell foul roses such as you! One fell swoop is the way I will deal with you fink-rats! I am giving you defeat like the fat man with the things litters houses with the cubes at the night of the dead!"

Fawful sprayed the ship with energy blasts, heavily damaging it.

"Eeeyah ha ha ha ha!" he chortled as he dodged Mario's jump-kick, and blasted him back on to the ship, the plumber skidding across the deck. He looked over for Luigi, and found him knocked out; a blast may have gotten him. He was so shocked that he didn't see another shot Fawful blasted at him, and was floored by it. "One more wave-beaming, and this ship will be having all of the crashing! Not even controlling, altering or even the deleting will save you! Eeeyah ha ha!"

Fawful sprayed the ship with another wave-beam (of blasts), Mario stumbling to his feet and running at Fawful one last time, jumping and attempting to kick him, only for him to be dodged aptly, and Fawful chortled at Mario as he had jumped off the ship in an attempt to get one last hit in.

"You are having the rashness of a rash! Fawful has chortles at your stupidity of jumping off the ship!" Fawful taunted as Mario flapped rapidly with any strength he had left, but it was all in vain as he fell out of the sky, plummeting towards ground as the ship exploded, Mario falling unconscious during the drop.

. . .

"General Starshade! A massive explosion has been sighted!"

"Confirmation! I need confirmation!"

"General Starshade! Meteorite confirmed!" staring at the red comet blazing towards ground.

"Impact in Stardust Fields! Initiate recon!"

"Emergency! Emergency!"

* * *

**This chapter has been revised slightly. Just noting this.**


	4. Jumping the Border

Mario and Luigi: A Superstar Story

Chapter 4: Jumping the Border

**Beanbean Borderland**

"Where…am I?"

Luigi got up, and looked about. He then saw a blue round thing with two brown ear-like things sticking out of it. Luigi approached it, and realized that was a butt and two legs! He started pulling on one of the legs and after some struggling, the body went flying into the air, making Luigi fall backwards from managing to pull it out. He got up, looked about, and couldn't see the body anymore…until it bounced off his head.

Mario was standing on Luigi, and hardly noticed it. Luigi jumped out of the ground, making Mario slide off to the left.

"Where are we?" Luigi asked.

"I dunno, I guess we'll just have to explore this area." Mario explained casually.

"OK! Let's go, bro!" Luigi cheered.

Mario soon saw knocked out Koopas, and rushed to see if they were somewhat OK.

"The K-Koopa Cruiser... We haven't finished…paying it off…" one Koopa trailed.

"F-Find Lord Bowser… Oh… Gack… Help us…" another requested.

"Yeah, where IS Bowser, anyway?" Mario asked himself.

"Bow-Bowser fell…Urgh…on the other side…Ack!...of the border…" a third answered.

"OK, don't worry, we'll find him." Mario confirmed, crossing a bridge with his bro into a kind of castle.

They followed the carpet until they saw a pair of Hammer Bros

"Well, well! Talk about a nice surprise! Check it out, Bro!" one of them boomed. "It looks like the famous Mario Bros have arrived!"

"Man! That really brings back the memories, doesn't it? Good times… Good times." The other added.

"Yup." Mario agreed. "The good old days…"

"So what's up, brothers M? Are you two heading off on a journey together?" one of them said.

"Oh… you probably want us to let you pass, huh" the other assumed.

"Yep, we need to get to the Beanbean Kingdom." Mario explained.

"Yeah, well I'm sure you guys know this is the border of the Mushroom Kingdom."

"That's right, it's the border, and since we're the border security, we can't let you in…"

"Aww…what?" Mario cried.

"…until you do some jumping worthy of the Mario name! Want to do the Border Jump?"

"I'm going to assume me and Luigi have three lives, and if one of us loses all three, we lose. I'm also going to assume you're going to move that through, under, over, in, out and around us, and we have to jump over it, so sure, and no explanation is needed." Mario assumed. Everyone just stared at him with wide-eyes.

"…OK, then…get into position, and let's Border Jump!" one of the Hammer Bros said.

. . .

**After the Border Jump Minigame**

"Why do I feel like someone skipped our achievement?" Luigi asked. Mario shrugged as they left.

"Hold up, Bros!" one of the Hammer Bros called as they ran up to Mario and Luigi. "Since we've been on duty, you two are the first people to ever cross our border. I mean EVER!"

"Wow. Empty job." Luigi said, shocked.

"We've gotta commemorate the occasion by giving you this!" the Hammer Bro shouted as he gave Luigi the Beanbean Map. "As long as you have a map, you'll feel safer in foreign lands, right?

. . .

**On a Mountain's Summit**

"Cackletta? W-"

"Fink-rat!"

"Ah! Ugh...I…feel…weak…"

"Eeeyah ha ha ha! Fool! You dare stand before me? I would hold you as a prisoner, but I'd rather toy with you a little longer…"

"Argh…never…"

"Eeeyah ha ha ha! You can barely stand! Prepare to bow at my awesome magic!"

. . .

"OK, so this is the plan, bro." Luigi planned as he pointed at places on the map with a stick. "There's a town there called Beanbean Castle Town. Maybe if we go there, we'll get some help. We have to get to Beanbean Castle Town as soon as possible, so we'll trek Hoohoo Mountain, travel through North Beanbean and enter through the west entrance. Got it?"

Mario sweat-dropped.

"Good."

. . .

"Hey, there's a pipe there. Let's check it out!" Mario shouted as he entered the pipe. "Ah, never mind. It's a warp pipe. I walked through it, and I came into this junction with 8 other pipes, all being labelled 1-9, with the one we came through being 1. All of them were blocked though, so we can't use them yet."

Mario came out of the pipe, and they jumped to lower ground, then continued south. Luigi read a sign near some spikes.

"Beanbean Bulletin - Disturbing Facts Uncovered in Area 64. Recent studies show that Spiky Stardust Defence System (SSDS) can be jumped! It's easy! Just run, and jump! Such a defence gap is appalling! Improvements are demanded to prevent an increase in intruders!" Luigi read.

"Then let's run and jump!" Mario decided.

They did just that, jumping over all three of them and hitting a block containing a Mushroom. The jumped down to a lower path, and jumped over the SSDS there, and hit another block containing a Mushroom. They dropped down to a bridge, crossed it and continued south.

"Ack! Enemies!" Luigi cried.

"Let's get them!" Mario shouted, running into the first Fighter Fly he saw.

Mario jumped on one of the flies (though slipped off it, doing less damage), and they both flew into him, taking away some of his HP. Luigi let his foot smash into the face of the same one Mario jumped on, and Mario finished it. The other flew into Luigi, chipping off some HP again, but Luigi returned the damage with a jump. Mario jumped on the remaining Fighter Fly, and did high damage, finishing it off.

"Wow, they're tougher than Goombas." Luigi said, wiping his forehead, getting ready to take out the other pair of Fighter Flies. Mario lunged at them, initiating a battle.

Mario pounded the first one, dealing quite a bit of damage. The Fighter Fly tried to get its revenge on Mario, but Mario counterattacked with his jump, and finished it off. Then the other decided to get revenge on Mario for killing his friend, and succeeded in doing some damage before getting jumped on by the Bros and being defeated.

They headed west, where they saw Bowser stuck in a cannon…upside down. Mario jumped on his butt several times, making him finally go down, and flipped the cannon. Bowser's head popped out, and Mario and Luigi cheered.

"Hey! Mario! Great timing! I could use a hand here! I'm kind of…stuck."

"Maybe you shou-"

"Look, keep your diet jokes to yourself! They're not funny! Just get me out of here!" Bowser yelled, causing a fat Koopa-like creature to fall in out of nowhere.

"Nyeck! Nyeck! Nyeck!" it laughed. "Why, could it be that Bowser, the great Koopa King, has fallen into my cannon?! Nyeck! How amusing!"

"Wh-Who dares speak to me so?" Bowser raged with undying fury.

"Nyeck nyeck nyeeeck!" it laughed again. "I am Tolstar, the great and famed king of Stardust Fields! I've heard tales of you, but you aren't very impressive in person! Nyeeeck nyeck nyeck!"

Bowser would of erupted like a volcano if he wasn't stuck in that cannon.

"Nyeck nyeck! If you want me to get him out of there, little people, you must pay in coins!" Tolstar demanded. "I will set him free…for ALL of your coins! And I'll even keep this most embarrassing incident a secret!"

"Blackmail…" Mario mumbled.

"Wh-What?!" Bowser cried. "THAT'S NOT FAIR!"

"OK, OK, we'll pay." Mario said.

"Pardon me? I'm not sure if I heard you correctly just now! You'll give me all 112 of your coins?"

"Yup."

Mario threw the bag at Tolstar's head. Bowser started cracking up at that.

"Nyeck nyeck nyeeeck! Why, these are Mushroom Kingdom coins, aren't they?"

"Yeah…"

"Just take it. Cash is cash." Bowser grumbled.

"This is the BEANBEAN Kingdom! …I suppose I'll have to calculate their value in the local currency!" Tolstar explained as he took out a calculator. "Let's see… At today's exchange rate… 112 Mushroom coins… are worth 10 Beanbean coins!"

"WHAT? 12 of those coins I got were LEGIT." Mario growled, outraged. "I pummelled four Fighter Flies with my bro literally five minutes ago, and they gave us coins, and those coins were LEGIT. Don't lie to me, 12 of those coins were LEGIT. Don't cheat me out of 2 measly coins. Just admit, 12 of them were LEGIT."

"Well, sorry, but for only 12 coins I can't guarantee this secret won't slip out! Nyeck nyeck!" Tolstar snapped. "…Yes, that means I'll need an additional 100 Beanbean coins! Go find them in Stardust Fields and bring them back to me! Then I'll help your Koopa King!"

Tolstar pounded the ground, which activated a hidden switch underground, making the south-east bridge appear. Mario and Luigi crossed the bridge, on to the next area.

"Well, that's that then." Luigi said while heading north into another area with Mario, and jumping over some more of that SSDS.

"Psst! Hey, Mario!" Luigi whispered. "I see an enemy there. He may have some money."

"OK, I'm going in for the kill."

Mario jumped, and barely missed the Fighter Fly, but still initiated a battle.

Mario jumped on it, dealing high damage. Then its friend tried to attack Mario, but he counterattacked, doing small damage. The other did the same with Luigi, but missed. Then Mario finished one off, while Luigi the other.

"4 coins down, 96 to go." Luigi counted.

"95 to go." Mario said as he hit a coin block. Then they saw a Bros Block, and got 14 hits out of the block. "81 to go."

They went east into the next area, and found a coin block, which Mario hit 8 times before it went brown, then dropped to lower ground, and hit a nearby block for a Mushroom. Then he finally got a first strike after so long, and cheered. The Fighter Fly however, wasn't happy, and his two friends, who were Bill Blasters, weren't happy either. Mario finished off the fly, and the Bill Blasters shot bullets out of their cannon, damaging Mario by quite a bit, and blasting off some of Luigi's HP.

"Ouch! They're hitting us pretty hard! My HP is dangerously low…" Mario groaned, and was replied with Luigi tossing him a Mushroom. "Thanks, Luigi!"

Luigi just waved. Mario jumped on a Bill Blaster, only doing some damage. Then they dodged the Bullet Bills again, and Luigi finished off the first blaster. Then Mario got started on the second. Luigi leaped over another Bullet Bill, and finished the blaster off.

"Woo! Level up!" Mario cheered as he chose BP, getting +3. "Excellent!"

Mario went back to check if he missed something, didn't, and while he was walking back, a Fighter Fly attacked him from behind a wall.

Mario jumped on the first one, doing a 1HKO. Mario grinned. Luigi was then hit in the face by a fly, taking some damage. Two more jumps by the bros finished that fly off though.

"Yeah! I levelled up!" Luigi cheered as he chose Defence, getting +3. "We're getting so lucky with these roulettes, aren't we, bro?"

"Yup."

They headed east, climbed some steps and jumped down. Luigi hurt his leg on the landing, but other than that, they were OK. In the next area to the east, Mario instantly bashed a block, containing some Syrup. They soon found a star-shaped panel. It opened up, and a elevator lifted two Toads to the surface. They were standing on each other, and their round spots were stars. The one on the bottom was green, while the one on top was red.

"Sergeant Starshade! The shooting stars we just witnessed were an alien bombardment! …Perhaps! In the name of the Starshade Bros, we will find the alien scum! They will rue the day!" General Starshade deduced.

Mario and Luigi stepped to the right, and Mario jumped on Luigi. Then they stared at them. Sergeant Starshade took out a green telescope.

"General Starshade! Sir! I have confirmed the presence of a suspicious unknown entity!" Sergeant Starshade confirmed. "It is a vivid green colour that pierces the eye!"

Mario and Luigi walked to the left and General Starshade took out a red telescope too and looked.

"Hmm! Yes! Sighting confirmed! However, I see not green, but red!" General Starshade also confirmed. "Urgent! Pursue additional visual contact immediately!"

Mario and Luigi walked to the middle and stepped back a bit. Then the Starshade Bros put away their telescopes, and saw the Mario Bros mirroring them. They scuttled to the left and right randomly, and the Mario Bros mirrored them perfectly. Then they walked closer to each other, and the General started to make random poses and whatnot, still being mirrored. Then they stepped back, and flapped their hands. Then the Starshade Bros did a Spin Jump left and right, and Mario did a Spin Jump by himself, going straight into them.

"Oh! Incredible! It is none other than Mario from the Mushroom Kingdom!"

"Luigi sighting confirmed!"

"Sergeant Starshade! Change of mission objective! Obtain autographs, STAT!

. . .

"And now we're in the Bea6nbean Kingdom looking for Cackletta." Mario finished.

"Hmm… I see…" General Starshade trailed. "Incredible! To think… Princess Peach's lovely voice in the hands of some vile enemy! Her voice must be recovered, no matter what it takes! Priority one, Sergeant Starshade! We must provide as much field support as we can!"

"Very well! We Starshade Bros will teach you the secrets of Bros Action!" Sergeant Starshade promised. "Master Mario! Master Luigi! Special Bros Action training shall commence immediately! Are you ready to undergo training?"

"Yes, sir!" Mario and Luigi chirped.

. . .

"When you wish to jump up to a high ledge, Luigi can jump on Mario to perform a High Jump. At the moment you jump on him, bounce off him!" Sergeant Starshade instructed as he demonstrated it on a nearby high ledge. "See? You can jump higher than you can on your own! Indeed, it's jumping synergy!"

"Very well, Luigi! Then use the High Jump you just learned to reach the ledge on the right!" General Starshade ordered.

Luigi started bouncing on Mario, and when he timed it right, Luigi started to soar into the air but Mario grabbed Luigi's leg, and Mario went into the air too. They landed on the high ledge to the right.

"Excellent work, men!" Sergeant Starshade complimented. "If you use your High Jump, you can climb ledges that you could never climb alone!"

"Now for the next Bros Action!" General Starshade shouted. "But first, Mario, sir, you move to the rear…"

"For the Spin Jump, first, Mario jumps on Luigi, then you stick your hands out." General Starshade instructed, demonstrating as he went along. "See? You ride piggyback! Now, if you focus your spin power, the two of you spin through the air together!

The Starshade Bros flew across a gap using the Spin Jump.

"It is possible to use this Spin Jump to jump across wide valleys and dangerous pits!" General Starshade explained. "Very well, Mario! Then use your Spin Jump to reach the ledge on the right!"

Mario and Luigi quickly swapped places, and Mario jumped on Luigi. Then they stuck their arms out, and charged up their spin power. Then they spun, and made it to the other side.

"Awesome!" cried Luigi.

"Excellent!" General Starshade complimented.

"See, boys, actions that the rear member performs are called Bros Actions! There are more actions only brothers like you can perform!" Sergeant Starshade explained.

"Training Complete!" General Starshade yelled.

. . .

"Excellent. Now, the proving grounds! The time has come to show the fruits of your training!" General Starshade began. "You must use the High Jump and Spin Jump we just taught you…to reach the flag way up there! Good luck, soldiers!"

"Wow. We have to get all the way up there." Mario said, shocked. "Ah, well, better get started.

Mario and Luigi ran east to some barrels, which they High Jumped on to. Then they ran east another pair of barrels, which they also High Jumped on to. Then they High Jumped on to a nearby ledge.

"We're about halfway there! Come on!" Luigi shouted as they swapped spots.

They did a Spin Jump to the left, and landed on a really high ledge.

"I really don't want to fall down…" Luigi spoke to himself, trying to not look down.

They High Jumped on to an even higher ledge north of them, and Mario nabbed the Mushroom from a nearby block.

"Last stretch!" Mario said as they spun left to the flag.

"Hmm… Incredible! Master Mario! Master Luigi! You truly are super brothers! I salute you!" General Starshade shouted from the bottom.

"You have perfectly mastered the High Jump and the Spin Jump!" Sergeant Starshade confirmed.

"Master Mario! Master Luigi! May your mission be successful! Good luck out there! MOVE OUT!" General Starshade yelled as the elevator went down, and was covered up.

"Now, we have 37 coins, and we have to get 63 more before we can save Bowser! Come on, let's use our new skills to get those remaining coins!" Luigi counted as Mario nabbed Syrup from a block to the left of the flag.

The Mario Bros jumped down from where the flag was, crashing on the floor, getting up, and running south.

* * *

**It's not my fault I couldn't bear to write about rope movements, it's just too boring.**

**Anyway, I should be able to fit the rest of Stardust Fields in the next chapter. **.


	5. New Super Mario Bros 2: Simplified

Mario and Luigi: A Superstar Story

Chapter 5: New Super Mario Bros 2 - Simplified

Mario and Luigi crossed the bridge into another section. There were a few enemies in here. Mario cracked his hands and charged at an unsuspecting Fighter Fly, missed and decided to High Jump on to it, and the first strike hit its mark.

Mario felt a power growing in him, and jumped onto Luigi, who was bent over, bounced off of him, spun in the air and Luigi jumped and latched on to him. They flew towards the Fighter Fly, flipped so Mario was on the bottom, and splashed on to the Fighter Fly, dealing an incredibly large 15 damage.

"It felt like I knew what I was doing, but I don't know what that was…and I felt a power go through me…" Mario trailed.

"Me too, I felt a power course through me as well..."

"I wonder what that was…" Mario thought, but was interrupted by a Bill Blaster hitting him. Luigi dodged the one aimed at him.

"Bro, open up your hands!" Luigi called, stepping backwards and jumping. Mario opened up his hands like he was told and Luigi briefly flapped in the air to make sure the jump was exact, and landed on Mario's hands, bouncing off of them, and flying into the air. Mario made a stance, and jumped high into the air, meeting up with Luigi and they grabbed each other with their legs and made a hourglass shape out of their bodies and crashed on to the Bill Blaster with Luigi on the bottom, doing a very high 5 damage.

"It happened again…" Luigi trailed.

"I'll call my technique 'Splash Bros' since we splashed on to that Fighter Fly." Mario said.

"Erm, I'll call mine 'Bounce Bros' since there was a lot of bouncing in mine." Luigi explained.

Mario used Splash Bros to finish off the other Bill Blaster, and they won the battle.

Then they approached another Fighter Fly near a ledge, and Luigi jumped on it.

The first strike did some damage to both Fighter Flies in the battle and both Bill Blasters. Mario jumped on the first Bill Blaster, but since that did the same amount of damage, it didn't defeat it. Then the Fighter Flies tried to attack, but they were counterattacked for 2 damage. Luigi then used Bounce Bros on the second Bill Blaster, finishing it off and Mario jumped on the other defeating it.

The Fighter Flies sneak attacked Luigi, though he managed to counterattack one and Mario finished one of the Fighter Flies. Luigi decided to do Bounce Bros to finish the last one, and did so. Then they High Jumped on to a ledge, and added 9 coins to their pockets, meaning they had 60 so far.

Mario saw a third Fighter Fly, and was jumping on it in an instant.

There was that same Fighter Fly, and two Bill Blaster near it. Mario jumped on a Bill Blaster, and then they dodged both Bullet Bills. The Fighter Fly tried to hit Mario, but he counterattacked. Luigi finished off the first Bill Blaster, and Mario started on the second. Luigi dodged the Bullet Bill, and finished off that Blaster. The Fighter Fly attempted to attack Mario again, but was counterattacked again and died. They won the battle, bringing their coin total to 66.

"We're two thirds of the way there!" Luigi shouted as Mario claimed Syrup and a coin.

Luigi took the lead to Spin Jump to a ledge with a Bros Block, and got 12 hits out of it. They fell to the left, and went west.

"Mario and Luigi! Sirs!" General Starshade called, coming out of another star panel. "This is an emotional reunion, sirs!"

"By your leave, there was something we com-PLETELY forgot to mention to you earlier!" Sergeant Starshade reminded.

"Affirmative! You see, when you master a technique in the field, you can also use it in battle! General Starshade explained.

"Since you have mastered the High Jump and the Spin Jump, you can now use these techniques in battle!" Sergeant Starshade shouted.

"We must confirm technique mastery in combat situation!" General Starshade explained, and the red star elevator went to the surface, revealing a whole stack of Fighter Flies, which Sergeant and General Starshade were standing on, the former on top of the latter. Then they Spin Jumped downwards, sending the Fighter Fly they touched flying somewhere. They all missed Mario and Luigi, except the last one.

. . .

"Proceeding with Bros Attack Tutorial!" General confirmed.

"First, as you can see in Mario's command options…" Sergeant trailed. "…there's a new attack command called Bros Attack!"

"Bros Attacks are duo techniques…" General started. "…in which Master Mario and Master Luigi attack together!"

"When you choose this command…" Sergeant started. "…your list of Bros Attacks appears!"

"OK, let's see your attack, Mario!" General requested.

Mario that power growing stronger in him, and jumped onto Luigi, who was bent over, bounced off of him, spun in the air and Luigi jumped and latched on to him. They flew towards the Fighter Fly, flipped so Mario was on the bottom, and splashed on to the Fighter Fly, dealing an incredibly large 15 damage again.

"Bravo! Well done! Another superb job by the super Bros!" General Starshade cheered. "You have mastered it, sirs!"

"That's how Bros Attacks work!" Sergeant Starshade confirmed.

"Next…I will tell you about the modes in Bros Attacks." General Starshade started.

"Modes are the difficulty levels of the Bros Attacks!"

"The modes…can be changed!"

GASP.

"Just decide which mode you're doing, and say the number between 1 and 3." General continued.

"Mode 2 is without Slow Motion. Mode 3 is without Action Icons!"

"Once you master the Action Commands, try different modes for a greater challenge!"

"We've been doing Mode 3 the whole time." Luigi explained.

"Succeeding in the most difficult mode will benefit you greatly."

"Master Mario! Master Luigi! Good luck! Once you succeed enough times…You may be able to devise some new Advanced Commands!"

"Advanced Commands are methods that further evolve your actions!" General Starshade explained. "When you learn one of these, one of you will flash, you both will understand…but for now, just master the basic Action Commands! Bros Attack training complete! Almost! Lastly I shall explain Bros Points! You must use Bros Points to execute Bros Attacks, so use your points wisely."

"Ah, no wonder we couldn't use it at one point, because out BP was too low!" Mario said.

"Here ends the Bros Attack lesson! Really!"

. . .

"Thus we can officially confirm that these field techniques are indeed executable in battle!" Sergeant Starshade confirmed.

"Proper planning and preparation will ensure your safety throughout your journey! We wish you luck! MOVE OUT!" General Starshade ordered as he threw a couple of Syrup Jars at Mario and Luigi as the red star elevator took him down and the yellow star panel returned.

Mario and Luigi chugged them, and their BP was restored to max, and decided to use their attacks often on Mode 3 to get Advanced Commands quickly, then went east. They fell down off the ledge after they crossed the bridge, and landed on a pair of barrels which they slipped off of and landed on a Fighter Fly. He was joined by another Fighter Fly and two Bill Blasters.

Mario used Splash Bros on a Bill Blaster, defeating it. Luigi dodged a Bullet Bill, and used Bounce Bros on the other Blaster, defeating it too. Then Mario and Luigi counterattacked a Fighter Fly each, and finished them both of with their respective Bros Attack, getting a Mushroom as a drop.

"Level…4!" Mario shouted as he chose BP. "Wow, I'm really lucky, I just got +3!"

Mario then jumped on another Fighter Fly and did Splash Bros on one of its Bill Blasters. The Fighter Fly tried to attack, but was counterattacked. Then Mario used Splash Bros on the other Bullet Blaster and Luigi did Bounce Bros on the Fighter Fly.

"Yay! Level 4!" Luigi cheered as Mario gave him a thumbs up. "Woo! 3 BP!"

Luigi peeked from behind a wall, and a Fighter Fly was all up in his face. It came with a buddy who had two Bill Blasters.

Mario 1HKO the first Fighter Fly, and Luigi heavily damaged the second, but not quite defeating it. Mario was hit by a Bullet Bill, and so was Luigi, who then counterattacked the Fighter Fly. Mario wanted to finish off the Fighter Fly because he seriously did not like Fighter Flies. Luigi told him to go ahead, and Mario cheered after defeating said fly. Luigi signalled Mario that they were going to do Bounce Bros on a Bill Blaster, and they did it perfectly. Luigi jumped over a Bullet Bill, and Mario did JUST enough damage to leave the Bill Blaster alive, and neither Bros had enough BP to use their Bros Attack, so Luigi just finished the job, getting another Mushroom as a drop.

"101…coins!" Luigi counted, nearly referencing a movie, but restraining himself. "Should we go save Bowser now?

"Nah, let's keep exploring, we'll do it later." Mario answered. "Fighter Fly! Must kill!"

Mario chugged a Syrup, and pounced the unlucky Fighter Fly, getting a first strike.

Mario did Splash Bros on the same Fighter Fly (doing TWENTY DAMAGE), and Luigi finished off his friend. He jumped on a Bullet Bill that was blasted at him, and Mario did the same. They used Splash Bros on one of the Bill Blasters, and Luigi drank some Syrup because he was thirsty, and that gave him that boost he needed to dodge a Bullet Bill. Mario and Luigi teamed up for Splash Bros, and finished off the Blaster.

The Bros continued west, but there was a wall.

"We can't jump it normally…how the heck do we get past?" Luigi asked.

"Did you forget we just got some brand new field skills?" Mario questioned.

"Oh!" Luigi remembered. "Time for the High Jump!"

They sprung up the ledge, and hit a Bros Block nearby several times. They climbed up brown things, and dropped down, and hit a Coin Block several times. Then they got back to where they were before dropping, and jumped on some block things. Then they continuously jumped till they on the other side, with a Coin Block there, which was hit 7 times. Then they travelled back, and went north.

They High Jumped on to a high ledge, and on to a higher ledge, where they hit a block for a Mushroom and another for 9 coins. They found a third, which just gave them a coin.

"I think we explored everywhere." Luigi decided. "Let's head back to Bowser."

. . .

Uh…nyeck? Let's see here… You now have 140 coins…" Tolstar calculated with a calculator. "Nyeck! It took you long enough! But well done! I'll just be taking those coins now!"

"Finally! Let me out of here!" Bowser moaned, still in the cannon.

"Huh? You want out? You want me to help you?" Tolstar asked. "Who said I'd do that?"

"Nyeck nyeck! **If you want me to get him out of there**, little people, you must pay in coins! **I will set him free…for ALL of your coins!** And I'll even keep this most embarrassing incident a secret!" Luigi repeated. "Does that ring a bell?"

"GRAGH! You welcher!" Bowser groaned.

"Nyeck nyeck nyeck!" Tolstar grinned as he made a troll-face, then flew to Mario and Luigi and made an angry face. "Nyeck nyeck! You're not in the Mushroom Kingdom anymore! Outsiders begone!"

"We gotta knock out a king, bro!" Luigi called. "Maybe we should do Splash Bros!"

They did Splash Bros and caused 7 damage. Tolstar threw a spike ball at Luigi, which he was hit by, and took 2 damage. Luigi got his revenge by doing Bounce Bros, but only did 5 damage.

"Hmm…" Mario thought for a moment, sparking Luigi's interest. "Advance!"

"Eh?" Luigi asked.

"We do this, and this, and that and this and that and that and that then finish with this." Mario explained.

"Nice one, bro! I can't wait to try that out! Too bad we can't use now since there's only enemy, and it wouldn't be useful…" Luigi said as they did Splash Bros.

"Nyeeeck!" Tolstar shouted, throwing a bouncing spike ball at Mario, which hit him and did 5 damage.

"My health is getting really low…" Mario said, panting. "But I refuse to use an item in battle!"

"Then I will." Luigi said, tossing a Mushroom into Mario's mouth.

"I still haven't used an item in battle, so I'm a happy camper." Mario said, smiling as he attempted to do Splash Bros, but didn't have enough BP. "I refuse to drink the last Syrup in battle!"

Mario jumped on Tolstar, dealing only 2 damage. Tolstar threw another ball at Luigi, who dodged it. Then he used his turn by throwing a Syrup at Mario, where it knocked him out, and it poured in his mouth while in mid-air. Then it bounced off his head. Mario got up, and gave a thumbs-up to Luigi, and did Splash Bros on Tolstar.

"Nyeeeck!" Tolstar shouted, throwing a bouncing spike ball at Mario again, but this time, Mario didn't jump, and it missed him completely.

Luigi did Bounce Bros, and Mario did Splash Bros.

"Hmph! Not bad. Not bad at all." Tolstar stated, making a face. "But how about THIS!?" Tolstar blared, throwing a spike ball at Luigi (who dodged it) and Mario (who got hit and took 3 damage).

Luigi did Bounce Bros again, but it failed and did 2 damage instead, then Mario did Splash Bros again.

"Nyeeeck!" Tolstar shouted as he threw a spike ball at Luigi which hit him, and Tolstar threw another which bounced and Luigi was still recovering from the last one, and couldn't jump. But he didn't need to as it bounced over his head. Bouncing…

"Bro, let's try and finish him with Bounce Bros!" Luigi called.

Mario nodded, and they did Bounce Bros without fail. Once they performed it, Tolstar made a face in pain, and stars came out of him, and he collapsed.

"Yeah! Level 5 came so quick!" Mario cheered as he got +2HP on the roulette. "Dang, I could of gotten +3 if I waited longer."

"Double level up all across the sky!" Luigi hummed. "I'd rather be defensive, so Defence. I got it! +3 Defence!"

. . .

Tolstar moved while knocked out, then leaped his knocked out body to the exit of Stardust Fields.

"You, sir, have been griping far too loudly for some time!" Sergeant Starshade shouted as he came out of a star panel next to the cannon. He kicked the cannon sideways, and lit the fuse. Then he returned back where he came from.

"GRAAAAAAAAGH!" Bowser cried as Mario and Luigi panicked. "M-MARIO! Green 'Stache! You gotta get Princess Peach's voice back! It's all up to you!"

Bowser shot out of the cannon westwards, sending Tolstar flying. Then the cannon disappeared.

"For those of you wondering, that was a one-use cannon." Luigi explained. "One-use, and it's gone."

"Luigi! Stop speaking random stuff and let's Spin Jump across this gap!" Mario called.

"Sorry, bro." Luigi said before he got ready for Mario to jump on him and do the Spin Jump.

They twirled across, and headed across the bridge into the next area and headed north into a cave, ready for whatever else Beanbean Kingdom wanted to throw at them.

* * *

**Man, I wish I had New Super Mario Bros 2 now. Anyway, speaking of New Super Mario Bros, there's a new story up. It's a remake of a NSMB crossover I did years ago. Feel free to check it out!**


	6. Back Scratchin

**Normally, I would have most likely waited till next week to post anything...but I was in a Mario mood.**

* * *

Mario and Luigi: A Superstar Story

Chapter 6: Back Scratchin'

**Somewhere on Hoohoo Mountain**

"Oogh, where am I? Who am I?"

"Huh? There's a guy here on the floor!"

"Who are you…"

"HEY, YOU! YEAH, YOU! I'll get you off these mountains, and you'll be my minion in training. What's your name?"

"I don't remember…"

"Fine, I'll call you Rookie! Now, let's get you out of here."

"Boss…"

. . .

Mario and Luigi got ready, then high-jumped on to a high ledge.

"I CLAIM THIS BLOCK IN THE NAME OF MARIO!" Mario laughed triumphantly as he struck a block, stuck a flag with an M on it on to the block, and claimed a Mushroom. "Anyway, let's keep moving."

Luigi just sweat-dropped at the out of character moment.

He dropped down a few ledges, and hit another block with another Mushroom. Then they exited the cave, and saw a pair of waterfalls to either side of the cave's exit. They then continued towards a bridge, and crossed it to the west.

"You fiends!"

Mario and Luigi bolted back to the cave entrance, all the while being chased by Bean Guards, but realizing from the cave, they had nowhere to go and stopped, also due to the fact they didn't do anything wrong. The Bean Guards surrounded them at the entrance of the cave, one to the left of Luigi, one to the right of Mario and one standing in between the other two and standing in front of both of them.

"We…We've found you at last! You scum! What have you done with Prince Peasley?!" the middle Bean Guard asked.

"Sheesh, offensive." Mario muttered. "Over 10 years of dedicated service, and now I'm getting called scum?"

"We didn't do anything." Luigi said honestly.

"Yes! There is no mistake! YOU kidnapped Prince Peasley!" the left Bean Guard accused.

"If anyone's kidnapping anyone, it's Bowser kidnapping Peach." Mario said casually.

"If anyone's saving anyone, it's Mario saving Princess Peach." Luigi added.

"Bah, none of that nonsense! We have witnesses! Now confess, villains!" the right Bean Guard demanded.

"WHAT witnesses?" Mario asked.

"Anonymous witnesses. Stop trying to change the subject!" the left Bean Guard shouted.

"We are MARIO and LUIGI. We are not villains…we are heroes." Mario and Luigi explained slowly as if the Bean Guards had very little understanding.

"What's that? You say you're Mario and Luigi?"

"Yes."

"Lies! Bald-faced lies!" the left Bean Guard blared. "The superstars of the Mushroom Kingdom would never come here!"

"Ooo, you just insulted your own homeland." Mario said as Tolstar flew in, covered in bandages.

"Nyeh… Nyeck nyehhh… They're not lying…" He wheezed. "They say they've come here chasing someone called Cackletta… And they're really, really tough…"

Tolstar flew off, as Mario and Luigi winced at the damage they dealt.

"…Oh dear. Oh, my! Ohhh, BOY! Pardon us, sirs! SO sorry!" the middle Bean Guard apologized. "See, our kingdom's Prince Peasley was kidnapped by something…or so recent reports out of Hoohoo village claim. We have been looking for any signs of the perpetrator."

"According to eyewitness accounts-"

"Those anonymous witnesses…" Mario trailed.

"the prince's kidnapper…wore an odd helmet and spoke of mustard and fink-rats. That is all we have to go on."

"One thing wrong with that statement. It's MUSTARD OF DOOM, not MUSTARD." Mario corrected. "And that's definitely Fawful."

"Fawful…I'll try and remember that. If you come across anything else, please let us know."

"Reopen the investigation!" the middle Bean Guard exclaimed as they scattered.

"Great start to this area!" Luigi cheered, somewhat sarcastically as they attempted to cross the bridge again.

**Hoohoo Village**

"Finally! Now we can rest and buy new garb! My Work Jeans are all dirty now." Luigi chirped.

"I hate to be a downer, but I really doubt there's a shop here." Mario doubted.

They dropped down a ledge, climbed down some stairs, crossed a bridge, crossed another, and hit a block for a Mushroom.

"That wasn't worth it." Mario instantly said as he held the Mushroom, staring at it as they walked into a cave nearby.

It was full of rocks, ones blocking stuff grey, and ones just being rocks were brown. Luigi attempted to kick the grey ones, but hurt his foot in the process.

"It's always the left one, isn't it? Always my left foot!" Luigi groaned as he hopped out of the cave with Mario, who snagged a Mushroom and 10+ coins while Luigi hurt his foot.

Once the Bros made it back up to where they entered, Mario talked to a villager who looked a lot like a Cactus.

"This is Hoohoo Village, on the flanks of Hoohoo Mountain. This mountain is a sacred place."

"Interesting…" Mario replied, paying half attention as he walked over to a female villager who looked like a cactus too.

"Hey, do you know how to get to Beanbean Castle Town from here?" Luigi asked.

"If you climb down this mountain, you'll reach the town surrounding Beanbean Castle. The townsfolk are so much more stylish and fashionable than people in this town. I just adore them!"

"Thanks!" Luigi thanked, walking off with his bro into a house to the left and talking to a male villager.

"I-I saw this kingdom's prince, Prince Peasley, on the edge of the village… I-I'm sure of it! He was taken to the top of the mountain by some guy wearing a weird helmet!"

"Fawful…" Mario said, leaving the house and heading west.

"I'd like to meet this Prince, actually." Luigi input, leaving too.

Luigi found Mario asleep, snoring, next to a talking villager.

"I'll repeat myself if you didn't hear me. Long ago, on this very mountain, the Hoohooligans developed the great Hoohoo civilisation. At the summit, there still remain many mysterious remnants of these once great people."

Luigi used a wake-up slap on Mario. It was very effective, as it woke Mario up.

"Huh? Sorry, I was put to sleep by the boredom." Mario explained as he woke up his body by shaking about. He heard a loud face to palm connection, but led Luigi onwards into a cave. Mario bashed the coins out of a block, crossed a bridge, snagged a Mushroom, jumped up about 10 ledges, Spin Jumped when Luigi caught up, did it again and left Luigi to fall on the floor and catch up.

Mario bashed a block with a Mushroom, and was too impatient to wait for Luigi before bashing a Bros Block, only getting one coin. He left through the exit, bashed some blocks for some coins, a Mushroom, some Syrup, some more coins and a Mushroom, while interrupting a love scene near a waterfall in Mario's haste. The couple chased him all the way back to where Luigi was left behind, grabbing him and jumping off the edge, where the couple growled and said they'd get their revenge.

"Phew…I'm never doing that again…" Mario said while panting. "Never, ever, ever mess with people in love, words to live by."

"At least you made yourself take all the fall damage when you dragged me with you. You even laid yourself out as a carpet and let me land on you!" Luigi chirped happily. "So, what you find?"

"Money and Items."

"Nice."

They left the cave, and headed west.

"The bridge is broken, so we're repairing it. Go talk to villagers for a while and come back."

"Darn it!" Luigi cried. "Let's see if there's another path instead."

They went back to the cave entrance, and dropped off the ledge. Then they headed west again, and went past all the Hoohooligans and houses (though there was only one) into the next area, where they saw Fawful.

"G-Give back Prince Peasley!" a Bean Guard demanded. Fawful replied with an energy blast to the face, knocking him away. Fawful chortled.

They attempted to sneak up on him, but Luigi fell down and Mario jumped in shock.

"Nrrggh-GACK!" Fawful cried. "Y-You again! You are the pair of fink-rats that swooped in with the Bowser that I hate! Hmph! HMPH, I say to you! While I was busy with Peasley, you have been catching me!"

"What did you do with Prince Peasley?" Mario demanded, looking for answers.

"I have fury!" Fawful yelled, ignoring Mario. "But Cackletta has already begun smearing the butter of her next tasty plan over Beanbean Castle!"

"Yum…that's some delicious plan…" Luigi mumbled, getting weakly elbowed by Mario. "Sorry, bro, I guess I'm just hungry."

"Since you two cannot make it in time, I say to you that it is better never than late…" Fawful began. "So here is your halting place! I have fury! Since you will not be shattering this stone, I laugh at you trying to climb down this mountain!"

Fawful flew off, leaving the brothers behind.

"I wish we brought some hammers on this trip…" Luigi moaned.

They headed back to the bridge being built to see if it was finished.

"The bridge is broken, so we're repairing it. Go talk to villagers for a while and come back."

The Bros decided to enter the house on the same bridge, to see a couple of Hammerheads doing stuff.

"Th-This is the last stone! Now we show the true spirit of the Hammerhead Bros!" the red Hammerhead yelled.

"This stone's our last shot!" the green Hammerhead shouted, then he and his brother started to smash the stone on the anvil table between them, but it broke quickly.

"Haah… Hufff… Hoorf…" the red Hammerhead panted. "This…stone…just…ain't…gonna…do…it… We can't make hammers no more…"

"Muh?! What do you think you're starin' at?" the green Hammerhead asked the Mario Bros.

"Hammers? Could you make us a pair?" Mario asked.

"Huh? What? You want us to make you a Hammer?" the green Hammerhead asked back.

"Hey! I know these two dudes! They're Mario and Luigi from the Mushroom Kingdom!" the red Hammerhead yelled. "The Jump and Hammer Kings!"

"Yeah! You're so right, Sledge! I remember these guys!" the green Hammerhead agreed. "Why are a couple of celebrities like you bummin' around this place lookin' for a Hammer?"

"Well, we came here lookin-"

"Oh! Hey… Look, you don't have to tell us. We fully understand…" Sledge said. "Our lips are completely sealed… We'll just make what you need. We're professionals, after all."

"That's right. Pros all the way. But the thing is, in order to make Hammers, we need Hoohoo Blocks from the mountaintop. And since Blablandon suddenly stopped comin' down here, we can't get up to the summit!"

"Hoohoo Blocks are hard stones. Hammers made from those things can break (nearly) anything! We want to climb the mountain to get more Hoohoo Blocks, but we can't jump well enough to do it!"

Mario jumped. High.

"Huh? Oh yeah! What was I thinkin'? You guys are jumping pros, ain't you?"

"So, are you sayin' you could go to the top of the mountain and get us some Hoohoo Blocks?"

Luigi jumped. High.

"That would REALLY hook us up! If you get some special Hoohoo Blocks, we'll make you a special hammer!"

"You scratch our backs, Bros, and we'll scratch yours!"

"OK!" Luigi agreed before leaving with Mario.

"The bridge is broken, so we're repairing it. Go talk to villagers for a while and come back."

"Hurry up, please." Mario begged to the bridge workers and left the area.

. . .

They entered a house to pass the time, and it had a female villager there.

"Hiya." Mario waved.

"Having a house right above a bridge is strangely convenient. You can dump the owner...er...I mean the garbage...right into the water." she said, correcting her "mistake".

Luigi: O.O

"The heck?" Mario gasped.

"Uh, no, it's not like that at all!" she cried, trying to stop the Bros from freaking out.

"That's not right. That's just not right." Mario shook his head, pacing back and forth.

"YOU PUSHED THE OWNER INTO THE WATER? WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?" Luigi asked.

"You're a murderer! A no-good, dirty, rotten murderer!" Mario accused.

"Get out! Get out! Get out!" she shouted, pushing the Bros out of the house and locking the door.

"Um..."

"Er..."

"That was...awkward."

"Can we pretend that never happened?"

"Let's."

. . .

They came back to the bridge, and they were done and were gone.

"Yahoo!" was all Mario said as he left the area.

**Hoohoo Mountain**

"Must! Get! Item! Block!" Mario said as he attempted to scramble up the ledge wall to hit a block.

"You won't reach it that way, bro." Luigi said as he put on shades. "You can't learn Rock Climb."

"Fine, we'll go the long way." Mario groaned as Luigi had a wide grin and took off his shades.

A Beanie hit Mario from behind.

"You're the new Fighter Fly!" Mario chirped as he got up, getting ready to destroy it. "Ready, Luigi?"

Luigi nodded, as he did Splash Bros, which took off more HP than needed, and over-killed it. The other Beanie attacked, but got counter-attacked by Mario. Luigi jumped on it, not quite finishing it, so Mario decided to over-kill the other one too with Splash Bros, and did so.

The next two Beanies on the field were taken down in the exact same way, except while fighting the second one, Mario figured out an Advanced Command for Splash Bros and Luigi was hit by a first-strike.

"I see why you're not fond of them…" Luigi trailed as he watched Mario jump back down to a lower ledge to the left, and hit a block for a Mushroom.

Then the two jumped up a few ledges, defeated a fourth Beanie and Spin Jumped across the a few gaps between ledges. Mario felt his Item senses tingling, and jumped off a cliff, landing on an item block, which Mario jumped off of, and bashed the block, claiming a Syrup.

"What did you get?" Luigi called from the top of the edge.

"Syrup!" Mario answer happily. He suddenly felt his Item senses tingling again, and jumped, long jumped, back-flipped and somehow got back to where Luigi was without needing to Spin Jump. "I wish I could do that all the time."

"Why don't you?"

"It's overpowered. I want a challenge."

"Ah…"

Mario jumped up a couple of ledges, and battled a Beanie. Luigi came out of nowhere after Mario struck the first Beanie (defeating it), and bounced off of the second Beanie. Then the Beanie tried to make a last-ditch attack, which Luigi used as an opportunity to finish it, if he didn't miss landing on it. Luigi ended up using his next turn to defeat it.

Then Mario lunged at a block (he long-jumped over the long gap separating the item block's ledge from the ledge Luigi was on), and clawed out a Mushroom.

"Dang, it isn't Syrup, but I'll live with it." Mario said. "Too bad my HP is full, I wanted to drink it."

Mario rushed back to Luigi (by long-jumping over that same gap again) and they read the sign.

"Hoohoo Mountain Trail to the east…" Luigi read aloud. "Let's get going!"

The Bros had made their first step on the mountain, though there was much more mountain to go before the summit, so they had to keep their guard up.


	7. Hoohooros, Guardian of the Mountain

Mario and Luigi: A Superstar Story

Chapter 7: Hoohooros, Guardian of the Mountain

Mario and Luigi were ambushed by a pair of Beanies and a Dry Bones after they went to the east.

"Luigi! Let's try our new Advanced Commands here!" Mario requested.

"Sure, why not?" Luigi agreed.

"Splash Bros…" Mario started off with a normal Splash Bros on the Dry Bones, but while Mario was spinning in the air, he suddenly stopped while shouting "ADVANCE!" and then dropped on to Luigi, who pushed him back into the air, and he continued spinning in the air until he was directly over the Dry Bones. Then he propelled himself downwards like a drill, and destroyed that Dry Bone, taking off 12HP, which was more than enough to defeat it.

"Wow…" Luigi said, overwhelmed by the power of the Advanced Command as he dodged a Beanie. "I'd call that Drill Bros or something like that."

"Drill Bros…I like that." Mario asked as he counterattacked a Beanie. "Now, let's see yours!"

"Erm…Bounce Bros…" Luigi said nervously as he flapped in the air and Mario latched on to him. "ADVANCE!" The Bros, connected so that Mario was grabbed Luigi's legs, and they turned upside down, sprung off the floor and separated, flying at a Beanie each, not quite defeating them, but taking off 3HP off each of them.

"I like it!" Luigi cheered. "Disperse Bros! That's what I'm calling it!"

"Good job, Luigi!" Mario supported while finishing off one of the Beanies.

"Thanks, bro!" Luigi thanked as he counterattacked…and finished the other Beanie.

"Now, where should we go…" Mario thought as he picked up a dropped Mushroom and Woo Bean. "Let's go into that hole-like area!"

They jumped off the ledge, landing on a Beanie, and then jumping on the first one again, defeating it (getting a "Lucky!" as well) and counterattacking the other Beanie who tripped. Luigi finished that one off.

Mario headed east, saw a Beanie, and decided to pummel it.

One painful (at least for the 2 Beanies and their friend Dry Bones) pummelling later, Mario and Luigi jumped up from the hole-like area, and climbed the ledges near where they entered from, where Luigi read a sign.

"Whirlwind Warning. If you have faith in your spin, step into the wind." Luigi read. "Hey, that's kind of catchy!"

Mario and Luigi decided to Spin Jump into the whirlwind, and they went zooming into a low ledge on a large ledge.

"Ouch! A warning next time when there's going to be something in our way while we're spinning!" Luigi cried.

The Bros went east again, turned 90o anti-clockwise, and saw a Hoohooligan on fire.

"Look, bro! That dude's on fire!"

"We have to douse those flames!" Mario shouted as they jumped back west on higher ground.

"Another guy on fire! Doesn't anyone know not to play with fire?"

Mario went past the guy, and drank from the watering hole…and got bloated from all the water.

"Bro! Don't go chubby on me!" Luigi cried, pushing his water-filled brother towards a sign.

"Beware of over-hydration! If over-drinking symptoms appear, stomp on the victim's head. Spitting excess water on objects in this area is strictly prohibited." Luigi read aloud. He then shoved Mario in front of the burning Hoohooligan, and jumped on him. Spit came pouring out of Mario, dousing the flames, and revealing the burning creature to be a statue.

"Wow. It was a statue. So maybe the other one was too?" Mario deduced when all the water came out.

The statue caused a whirlwind to emerge near a face on the wall, which the Bros decided was their way up, and jumped to level ground with the whirlwind (though Mario noticed a item block, and snagged a Syrup happily from it as they did so), spun and hit the whirlwind. They flew further, and hit hit a couple of blocks while getting to the other side. After getting 19 coins off of a Bros Block on the other side, they High Jumped up a few ledges, and went north.

"Beanie!" Mario said as he attempted to maul the poor creature, but was boned by a Dry Bones on the field and ended up fighting its friend and a Beanie. "At least I still get to destroy one…"

Mario smashed on to the Beanie, doing a 1HKO. Then the Dry Bones both sent their heads at Mario, making him lose 6HP altogether. They both jumped on the first Dry Bones, then counterattacked it, and did the same with the second. Luigi did Disperse Bros, but didn't split up and finished the second Dry Bones. Mario then jumped on the first one and finished it.

"Finally! Level 6 at last!" Mario sighed, getting +3 Attack. "Time to get that Beanie!"

Mario jumped on the Beanie, then sighed and finished off the Dry Bones. Luigi noticed this and knew Mario wanted to end this quickly. Mario dodged a Beanie, and got hit by the other. Luigi did Disperse Bros, and finished off both Beanies.

"I deserved that. Yes, a well-deserved level up!" Luigi cheered as he got +3 Defence.

Mario saw a watering hole, drank some water, and waddled in front of the Blazing Hoohooligan Statue. Then Luigi jumped on him, and he blasted the statue, cooling it down and starting another whirlwind. The Bros went back to the left, climbed the ledges and Spin Jumped into the whirlwind, landing on a very high ledge, and walked right…until they suddenly fell off and into the face of a Beanie.

Mario jumped on the Dry Bones, and the Beanies were counterattacked. Luigi defeated a Beanie with a jump, and Mario counterattacked a Dry Bones, and defeated it. Then Mario gladly finished off the last Beanie, and picked up a Woo Bean.

Mario then rushed at the Dry Bones on the field, and he called a friend and a Beanie.

Mario did Drill Bros on the first Dry Bones, and Luigi was hit by a Beanie. Luigi did Splash Bros, and finished off the other Dry Bones. Then Mario happily crushed the Beanie, and picked up another Woo Bean and a Mushroom. Then they headed back to the watering hole, and Mario waddled towards the area to the right again.

He stopped in front of another Blazing Hoohooligan Statue, and let loose his water on it. It cooled down, and another whirlwind was formed. Then they ran back to the ledge near the first whirlwind, then Spin Jumped into it, and then on to a ledge to the right. They ran a bit, and Spin Jumped into the second whirlwind.

Luigi bashed the "!" Block, which started another watering hole somewhere else.

Mario and Luigi missed an item block, and after they defeated the Dry Bones and his cohorts, Mario told Luigi to wait by that watering hole that wasn't going earlier.

. . .

"I got it." Mario confirmed. "But I forgot what I got."

"Figures."

Mario got bloated from the water again, and dropped over to the Blazing Hoohooligan Statue. Luigi jumped on him, and cooled down the statue, starting another whirlwind.

They Spin Jumped into it, and Mario suddenly had the urge to drop out of the whirlwind and defeat the Dry Bones below on the bridge, which Luigi told him not to, but he couldn't help it, and dropped.

"It'll be quick! I promise!"

. . .

Mario quickly defeated the Dry Bones on the field, getting a Mushroom in the process, and then they spun across the whirlwinds again, and they High Jumped up a few ledges, hitting two blocks and getting a 1-UP Mushroom and a few coins. Then they headed east.

"Look at that thing!" Luigi cried, pointing at a thing nearby.

"Ah. Travellers. I am Hoohooros. The ancient weapon of the Hoohoo civilization." Hoohooros said. "Beyond this point, the path grows even crueller. You must prove yourselves up to the challenge… Dare you try this challenge?"

"As long as it doesn't have a second part to it, like oh, a battle or something, I'm in." Mario answered.

. . .

"You must start now. And you must catch 10 Hoohoo Spirits within 30 seconds! Do not fall of the ledges, or you will immediately fail."

"Hear that, Luigi? Don't fall down." Mario said, heavily directed a Luigi.

. . .

"LUIGI! You fell down…"

"Sorry, it's not my fault I'm the better jumper, with less control." Luigi explained.

"OK, let's do it again."

. . .

"00:00:31 remaining! You have cleared the challenge!"

. . .

"…Now, for your next challenge." Hoohooros began. "YOU MUST DEFEAT ME!"

Hoohooros changed from orange to gray, and attacked the Bros.

"Let us begin!" Hoohooros shouted, hiding under one of two pillars near him.

Mario hastily jumped on the pillar on the right, which revealed Hoohooros. He went underground, and hid under the pillar on the left, and during this, the pillar on the right appeared again, shooting a laser at Luigi. He dodged it, and another laser came at Mario, who also dodged it.

"We have to predict his movements if we want to put the hurt on him!" Luigi explained. "I'm going to break the pillar he isn't in. You break the other."

"Got it!"

Luigi smashed the pillar on the right, and Mario did the same for the left, revealing Hoohooros again. Hoohooros moved to where the right one used to be, realizing he had been duped, and the pillar he used to be under reappeared and shot a laser at Mario, who dodged it. Luigi broke the new pillar, and Hoohooros shot a laser, which missed Luigi, but hit Mario, making him lose 6HP. Mario was annoyed, and did Splash Bros on him, draining 18HP out of Hoohooros. Luigi then did Bounce Bros, and only took 5HP out of him.

Hoohooros moved to where the pillar on the left used to be, expecting it to come back up, but the pillar that used to be where he was reappeared instead, and he shot a laser at the Bros in rage. It hit Luigi, making him lose 4HP and have only 18/22HP, and Mario got hit again, leaving him with a third of his 18HP.

Mario did Drill Bros this time, taking 16HP out of Hoohooros. The pillar then zapped 1HP out of Luigi, and Luigi fought back by doing Disperse Bros on both the pillar and Hoohooros. The pillar broke, and Hoohooros loss 3HP.

Hoohooros did exactly what he did before, making the same mistake and being wide open for attacks. Mario dodged his laser attack, but Luigi lost 4HP from it. Mario then performed Splash Bros on Hoohooros again, him losing another 18HP, defeating him.

"Lucky Seven! Woo!" Mario cheered while picking up a 1-UP Mushroom and choosing Defence, getting a +3 stat boost in that. "I need to be able to take some more hits."

"You have passed this test, too! Now you must face the test of reaching the summit!" Hoohooros boomed, causing a ledge to pop out and symbols near it to light up, allowing the Bros to continue going up. They High Jumped to that ledge, then up to the one to the right, and they Spin Jumped to a very high ledge that they couldn't reach otherwise, and Mario raided the block for its Syrup.

"I love Syrup." Mario state happily.

Then they repeated the same steps except on the left side to nab a Mushroom.

"I love Mushrooms too." Mario added to his earlier statement as they High Jumped back to the left side. Then they High Jumped on to gap in the mountain wall, and proceeded on.

Mario struck the nearby Beanie with his foot, leaving it on the brink of being defeated. Mario jumped on the Beanie and defeated it. Only then did he notice the Rex behind it. Luigi slowly and nervously approached it, and jumped on it. The Rex growled, and ran into Luigi, making him lose 2HP. Another round of jumps from the Bros finished it off, and Luigi collected a Woo Bean from the remains.

"Phew, level up!" Luigi cheered as he levelled up. "+3 POW? I don't need to be THAT offensive.

"Take what you get, Luigi, take what you get." Mario quoted as he lunged at a Dry Bones.

Mario weakened the Dry Bones, then Luigi mauled it into the ground. Mario and Luigi exchanged a high-five, until they were feeling glares from two Rexes.

"You hurt our friend. We hurt you." A Rex boomed loudly.

Mario and Luigi were trampled. This got Mario annoyed, and he called Luigi for Drill Bros, and knocked out the first Rex. Luigi then let his foot do the work as he hit the second Rex. That Rex didn't get defeated and rammed Luigi, but Mario wasn't happy with him for hurting Luigi, and put the hurt on him with Drill Bros too.

"Ah! Sorry! We give you sacred drink. We give you Syrup as sorry." The Rexes said.

"You guys are awesome!" Mario chirped as he chugged a Syrup and stored the other.

They Spin Jumped past the Blazing Hoohooligan, and landed on some stairs, which they Spin Jumped off of again, and landed on a ledge, where they High Jumped up to the right, and saw a not activated watering hole. Luigi looked down from the high ledge and saw a block.

"Please tell me you have something to hit that block with, Mario." Luigi said.

Mario rummaged through his overalls, until he found something.

"It's a Dusty Hammer. I found it in the basement, and decided to take it with me because I thought we may need it...and it was cluttering up the basement anyway." Mario explained as he chucked it at the block to the right. It hit the block, bounced in the air and hit the wall, then it hit the Syrup that came out of the block into Mario's hands and it fell to the block below. It struck it perfectly, and the watering hole was activated.

"Good job, bro! You saved us from backtracking!" Luigi cheered as Mario drank the water (after storing his Syrup). He waddled around the mountain, landing in a kind of hole, and climbing some stairs till they saw their fiery friend. Mario spat at him, and a whirlwind formed. They whirled on to a high ledge, and High Jumped to a higher ledge north of them. They climbed some steps and Mario jumped, smashed a block and claimed a Syrup which he stashed away.

Then they continued their long trek up the mountain, unaware of what would happen once they reached the top…

* * *

**Boss chapter next time! Can't say it's much of a memorable boss to me, but it's still something to look forward to. :D**


	8. King of the Mountain

Mario and Luigi: A Superstar Story

Chapter 8: King of the Mountain

Mario and Luigi went north into a new area. They started to go left, but stopped when they saw a Dry Bones. The Bros tried to tip-toe past it, but the bonehead heard, and sent its head to hit Mario.

"Great…more Rexes." Mario groaned. "They better be nice like the last two!"

"GRAGH! GRAGH!"

"Yup, they're not civilized like the last two." Luigi confirmed.

"Then let's drill them with our nicest attack!" Mario said with a wink.

They performed Drill Bros on one of the Rexes, defeating it and Luigi used Bounce Bros on the Dry Bones, also defeating it. Because the other Rex hadn't been hit yet, it was very hard for Luigi to dodge it, so alas, he couldn't and lost 1HP. Mario then "drilled" the other Rex, who also was defeated to it. That Rex keeled over, and dropped a Syrup. It then got up, and ran away.

"I'll assume that Syrups are a usual drop from Rexes." Luigi guessed.

"Lucky…" Mario grumbled as they continued trekking the mountain. "Beanie!"

Mario smashed his foot into the face of a Beanie, nearly killing it. However much he wanted to destroy the jerk of the bean there, he had to at least damage the Rex first or else it could do free damage. Mario decided to do Splash Bros, and defeated it. Luigi jumped on the Beanie and defeated it, earning an applause from Mario. They kept walking left until Mario bashed a 1-UP out of a block. Then they turned back, and headed to the place where they entered this area. They High Jumped up a high ledge, and waited for a whirlwind to come near them in Spin Jump Formation. It came, and they Spin Jumped into it, then out of it landing on some steps, where they did it a third time, landing on a ledge. Mario led them up the steps, and they headed north.

"Man, this mountain is big." Mario groaned. "How much longer is it going to be before we finally reach the top?"

"We've only been at this for hours. It takes some people days to do this."

"Wait, I think I see the top! It's only a little further!" Mario called, trying to get a good view of the peak.

"We're better off going to the top rather than trying to see the top."

"Then let's seize this talking and continue."

Luigi led the duo up some ledges, and to the top of some stairs. Mario noticed some Dry Bones and ran to bonk them on the head with his feet.

There was a Beanie, two Rexes and that very same Dry Bones. Mario took out the first Rex and Luigi took out the second with their respective Bros Attacks. Mario dodged the Beanie while Luigi counterattacked the Dry Bones. Mario gladly put the Beanie out of commission, and Luigi finished off the Dry Bones.

The Bros Spin Jumped over two gaps, and Mario kicked a Beanie, getting another first strike.

There was a Beanie and a Rex, and neither lasted that long.

Luigi noticed a block, and for once, hit it before Mario and got a Mushroom. They backtracked (which they both groaned at the thought of doing it) and got back to the top of those stairs. When a whirlwind came, they went into it and whirled into a sign.

"Summit ahead!" Luigi read while recovering. "Beware of excessive whirlwind spinning!"

Then they whirled into the same whirlwind from before, and into a second. They whirled nearly off the cliff, but managed to stop themselves, and jumped up some ledges. The Bros continued up some stairs, and after a lot of stair climbing, Spin Jumping and Mario claiming a Mushroom and some Syrup, they got to the end and climbed up some stairs.

"We reached the summit! Yeah!" Mario cheered as they filled up their HP and BP again.

"I can see Peach's castle from here!" Luigi called from the north-east side.

"I can see some Hoohoo Blocks, a bird and an egg." Mario replied.

Luigi ran over, tripped on the stairs and hit a Hoohoo Block in the open to the right.

"Fooooools!" the bird suddenly yelled out. "What're you kicking that for? That's a really rare stone! It's called a Hoohoo Block! And I'll tell you, anyone who tries to kick a Hoohoo Block down the mountain is a thief in my book!

"By the way, who are you?" Mario asked.

"Huh? My name? Oh… Right! I'm called Blablanadon!"

"The townsfolk are wondering what happened to you. Most of them just talk about you." Mario explained.

"…Whuzzat? The townsfolk are all worried about me? Really? But I didn't mean to make them worry!" Blablandon cried. "See, what happened is this: I saw Prince Peasly and followed him up here…and then I saw that this huge egg had appeared! I was shocked! I was speechless! Which is rare! So anyway, I've just been here keeping this poor egg warm ever since! Yup, that's the deal. I think something will hatch out of it pretty soon! That's what happens with eggs!"

Suddenly, the egg seemed to start moving.

"Oh! It's here! It's time! Oh, wow! It's about to hatch! I can't take the suspense!" Blablanadon cheered as he flew off the egg and awaited it to hatch, grinning at the sight.

"Why do I get the feeling this is going to be some kind of monster and attack us?" Luigi asked nervously.

"Maybe it's because of how many times it's happened before."

The egg burst, and a dragon-like creature popped out.

"Goo-gwaaaa!" it cried, making the Hoohoo Block fall into the water and down the waterfall, landing in someone's house.

"Ack! Well, THAT'S a shock! Talk about one crazy egg!" Blablanadon said, obviously shocked.

The creature shot a Hoohoo Block at the bird, sending it far into the distance, even past Peach's castle.

"Goo-gwaaaa!" it cried as it flew out of the egg and landed next to the Bros, attacking them.

"Erm, this book says this is Dragohoho." Luigi said, reading a new book he got. "He's apparently a dragon. He can spit purple balls which I'm guessing are Hoohoo Blocks at us."

"Where do you get that information?" Mario asked, shocked by the sudden information.

"This book I ordered back in Hoohoo Village. It has info on all sorts of stuff. Remember, knowing is half the battle."

"OK, OK, let's just defeat this thing."

Mario started off with Splash Bros, slicing off 22HP. Dragohoho blasted two Hoohoo Blocks at Mario (who lost 4HP) and Luigi (who lost 2HP), Luigi of which feeling sick at the fact that it came out of Dragohoho's mouth and hit him.

Luigi did Bounce Bros and bounced 11HP out of the dragon. Mario performed Splash Bros, cutting off the same amount of damage as before. The Bros dodged Dragohoho's shots except for the last one where Luigi got hit and lost 3HP. Luigi did Bounce Bros again, taking off 11HP again. Dragohoho then spat out a very long Hoohoo Block.

"Yuck…" Luigi cried at the sight of how it came out.

Mario did Drill Bros on the Hoohoo Block, knowing that the dragon would of done some hard to dodge attack with it, like most other bosses. Dragohoho shot some more blocks, the last one hitting 5HP out of Mario.

Luigi simply jumped on Dragohoho, only making him lose 3HP. Mario jumped on him too, and got a lucky hit, making the dragon lose 14HP, defeating him.

"Yahoo! I got a level up!" Mario cheered as he got +3 POW.

"Me too!" Luigi cheered as well as he got lucky and got a +3 DEF.

Dragohoho flew in the air and started to transform, revealing himself to be a Bean with yellow hair. He jumped back to the right of the Bros, and dazzled the area as he flicked his hand. Everything flashed from the awesomeness.

"Heh heh heh! Cheers to your mustaches!" he said as Blablanadon flew back to the scene.

"Th-this incredibly dazzling man is none other than Prince Peasly! What happened to you?!" Blablanadon asked.

"Heh heh heh!" Prince Peasly laughed as he blinded the area with his awesomeness again. "Well! I suppose you could call it a bit of an accident. As I was investigating events throughout this country for this top secret mission I'm on…I suddenly encounter Cackletta and her vile underling, Fawful, here on this mountain…but by the time I realized who the fiends were, it was too late…they transformed me into THAT and shut me inside the egg."

Prince Peasly blinded the screen again.

"Well, we're trying to find Cackletta to get back Princess Peach's stolen voice." Mario explained.

"Is that so? Princess Peach's voice has been stolen?" Prince Peasly said as his flying blue pillow flew towards him. "Heh heh heh… I wouldn't worry about Princess Peach. I'm quite sure she'll be fine. At any rate, we should chase after Cackletta! I want you to visit Queen Bean in Beanbean Castle once you climb down the mountain. It may be that Cackletta's next target is Beanbean Castle! I'd bet my life on it! Oh! Heh heh heh… Here's a gift from me. Autographed, of course!"

Prince Peasly tossed a flower, green stem and yellow head.

"Heh heh heh… I think a rose matches your green perfectly!" Prince Peasly said. "If you show that rose at Beanbean Castle, they'll permit you to enter!"

"And with that, I must get back to my mission! May we meet again!" Prince Peasly said as he dazzled the screen a last time as he flew off.

"Anyway, you guys need a ride down?" Blablanadon asked.

"Yup, we gotta get to Castle Town fast." Mario answered.

. . .

"Good luck!" Blablanadon called out as he dropped Mario and Luigi off at Hoohoo Village and got comfortable in his nest. "If you need to fly somewhere, come see me, OK?"

Mario and Luigi waved as they headed Castle Town…to be stopped by a weird rock.

"Oh, I forgot! We have to see the Hammerhead Bros to get out Hammers!"

"But we didn't bring a Hoohoo Block…" Luigi pointed out.

"Didn't you see that one you fell into go down the waterfall? If we're really lucky, that may have landed in their house. Considering you knocked it far out enough for it to be able to fall in the water and into their house and the fact that we went to the top and all, technically we did get them a Hoohoo Block." Mario explained. "Why don't we just go seem them anyway?"

. . .

"Hmph! Boy, did YOU two arrive at exactly the right time!" Sledge started. "Just now a Hoohoo Block fell down in the waterfall!"

"Check it out: We'll use it to make you the ultimate Hammer!" the green Hammerhead explained while Mario had a smug look.

The Hammerheads started smashing that Hoohoo Block until it was turned into a Hammer.

"Hoo! Hoo! Hooo… Man, it feels so GREAT to be makin' Hammers again after such a long break!"

"In fact, it feels so darn great that we went ahead and made you guys TWO HAMMERS!"

"Look at that craftsmanship! POW! Now you're playin' with power!"

"Yeah! You got that right! These bad boys are now all yours!"

Mario and Luigi picked up the hammers, and held them in the air.

"For practice, you might want to try smashing the rock in the next room."

Mario ran into the next room, around the crack in the floor showing a waterfall and stopped at a brown rock.

"HULK SMASH!" Mario cried as he smashed the rock into little pieces. "Ah, I've always wanted to do that."

Luigi leaped over the crack with his excellent jumping ability, and landed on the other side, claiming the Nut in the item block. Mario just shrugged and they left the place casually.

. . .

"I actually don't know what that statue is." Luigi stated as he broke it with his hammer.

"I would have guessed it was Fawful, but I don't even know." Mario said as he watched Luigi leap like a rocket on to a nearby little bridge between ledges (which was easily High Jumpable from the highest ledge to the right) and claimed another Nut.

The Bros headed south, and Mario quickly broke every rock in sight, including a stump which activated another watering hole. Mario stored the water in his mouth, and waddled to the only rock he didn't break (because it's on fire) and sprayed it. Luigi then gave it a good whack. He hit a block in the next area, getting some coins, and Mario ran east, telling Luigi to wait for a second.

. . .

Mario came back with a wide grin on his face as he carried two Mushrooms and two jars of Syrups in his hands.

"There were blocks."

"So, we going in that cave?"

"Yup."

The Bros headed into the cave, boss, plot-twist or minigame, they were ready.


	9. Mario Cart

Mario and Luigi: A Superstar Story

Chapter 9: Mario Cart

"H-H-Holy fudgeballs!" a Bean stammered. "C-C-Cackletta! The evil witch! And her minion, F-F-Fawful! I…uh…LIFE'S TOO SHORT!"

Cackletta cackled as she watched the Bean scurry into the distance. Cackletta signalled for Fawful to do something.

"I have fury!" Fawful howled as he blasted an oblivious pedestrian who was walking towards a shop. Then he sprayed the city with shots, (even hitting some people doing so) and left it in ruins.

"Eeyah ha ha ha!" Cackletta cackled. "Good job, my minion. Now, let us head to the castle, where we shall be taking that thing."

. . .

Inside the cave, Mario and Luigi saw two mine-carts. Then they saw an old Bean and his dog. Mario figured they should go talk to the old Bean.

"Whoa there, pards! It's been a Goomba's age since we had any strangers in these parts!" the old Bean exclaimed. "Now listen, fellers: if you want to ride in them rusty old carts, I won't go a-stoppin' you. But I'd advise watchin' out fer trouble. Yep. No one knows where them rails lead… Still, I'll tell you somethin': you might just be able to find jewels by jumpin' a bit in there. And while you're hoppin' for loot, watch out! If you spot danger, just shine your light at it! …Oh, mercy! There I go again! I'm always borin' folks to tears with stuff like this…so, erm…tell me, boys…care to ride in the carts?"

"Sure. It'll be like Mario Kart!" Mario said. "Only with a C instead though."

The Bros hopped into a cart each, and they wheeled off deep into the cave.

. . .

Mario was holding a flashlight that was in his kart, and shined it a Luigi's rail because his rail was darker and Luigi had no flashlight. The problem was the Battery would die soon, so they had to get new ones. Straight off the bat there was a bouncing Battery which Mario timed perfectly and snagged it, getting his light's power to full again. Mario then saw an interesting looking jewel that sparkled crimson.

"Bro! Jump!" Luigi called, which made Mario jump anyway and while he and his cart was in the air, he snagged the jewel and hit the ground again.

The carts when slightly downhill, then slightly uphill and after that, it returned to its normal level. Mario managed to get a Battery that was bouncing on the only flat ground between the slopes. He then looked ahead to see another Red Gem, and snatched it, then did the same with a Battery.

Luigi finally saw something of interest on his rail, and decided to stop watching Mario and grab the green jewel. Mario grabbed another Battery, and Luigi saw and took another Green Gem. Mario missed the next Battery, but got the Red Gem instead. Luigi could see a another Green Gem on his side, but a weird looking that Luigi would have thought was a Thwomp if it was more square planted itself in the rail.

"Jump, Luigi! It'll hurt you if you touch it and you may lose some of your Gems!" Mario yelled out.

Luigi timed it right, and jumped. Then both Bros got a Gem of their colour. Mario knew his flashlight was losing power fast, and Luigi wasn't feeling comfortable with less light as his rail went uphill. Mario grabbed the first Battery he saw from that point, and another Red Gem as Luigi grabbed another Green Gem too. Mario got another Battery as Luigi went back to level-ish rail with Mario as he jumped to grab a Green Gem. Mario grabbed yet another Battery, and Luigi snatched yet another Green Gem. Several more jewels and batteries were snagged. A Thwomp-ish creature then planted itself on to Mario's rail, but Mario didn't see it.

"Bro! There's a Thwomp thing there!" Luigi cried, pointing at the threat.

Mario grabbed his cart's rim and jumped. He flew over it, and noticed a Green Gem went past Luigi. The Bros snagged the last things in that section, and passed the 10 Gem barrier.

. . .

The Bros entered the next area, where Mario saw a Red Gem off the bat and reached out to grab it. Luigi started going uphill again as Mario snatched a Battery out of the air, followed by Luigi dodging a Thwomp as Mario grabbed another Red Gem. Mario missed the next Battery, but both of them got a Gem of their colour soon after. Around the time Luigi dodged another Thwomp, Mario managed to get a fourth Red Gem.

"Ah! Bats!" Luigi cried as Mario got another Red Gem. "Bro, shine your flashlight on them!"

As if on cue, Mario pointed it at the bat, but during this time, it saw the Bros and flew at them. Mario held it at the bat steady, and just when it was about to hit, the light was too much for it, and the bat flew away as Mario collected a Battery. He jumped for a Red Gem too, but as he got it, he hit a Thwomp, losing 3 Gems. Luigi jumped up and snatched a Green Gem, making them in total have 5 Gems.

Mario got a Battery while Luigi got a Green Gem. Then the Bros collected the exact same Gem and Battery as last time, and they collected the same things a third time. Then the Bros managed to snag one of each colour, but Luigi ended up missing a second one on his side. Mario missed a battery, but got a Red Gem, and Luigi jumped up to get a Green Gem. As Luigi went downwards, Mario missed another battery.

"Please don't miss so many batteries that I end up in the dark, bro." Luigi said while hiding in his cart. Mario grabbed a Red Gem and focused on getting the battery.

"MARIO!" Luigi cried as he pointed at the incoming purple bat towards him. Mario pointed his flashlight, blinding the winged creature, making it go red and fly off. Another one came towards Mario, but Mario tossed it at the thing, knocking it out of the sky and catching the flashlight when it fell. As this happened, Luigi missed a Gem, but Mario got one, then another. They approached the 15 Gem Barrier. The Bros had just scraped 15 Gems, and they continued.

. . .

Straight away, Luigi jumped and grabbed a Green Gem as Mario jumped over a Thwomp and picked up a Battery. When Mario landed, Luigi jumped and snatched another Green Gem, jumped over a incoming Thwomp, and got another Green Gem, and yet another Green Gem.

Mario jumped as he attempted to quickly aim his flashlight at a bat flying at him. He succeeded, and had a rough landing. The Bros then snagged gems of their colour at roughly the same time, getting them to a total of 6 Gems. Mario just rode into a Red Gem, which he caught in his hands, and Luigi got one too.

As Mario rode into another Red Gem and a Battery, a pair of bats tried to hit him. Mario shined his flashlight on them as Luigi rode into a pair of Green Gems. Then Mario himself caught a pair of Red Gems, jumped over a Thwomp, and got another pair of Red Gems and a Battery.

More Thwomps dropped from the ceiling and got stuck in Mario's rail. Mario jumped over both of them, blinded a bat and snagged two Red Gems and Luigi got 1 Green Gem. Mario then jumped and grabbed a Battery and a Red Gem. Luigi also managed to get another Green Gem. The Bros then snagged two Gems of their own colour each without any distractions, and reached the 20 Gem Barrier with 25 Gems.

. . .

"You've made it to level…3!" the old Bean from earlier yelled. "Well done. Here! Have a beany reward."

Mario and Luigi were given 5 Hee Beans, and when added to the 20 they got from the Border Jump Mini-game through grinding, they had 25 Hee Beans. They also had 8 Woo Beans.

. . .

The Bros reached the end of the cave, and their carts reached the end of the track. The Bros fell off, Luigi landing on his face and Mario landing on his back. They groaned for a few moments, then sprung up, and waved goodbye to the old Bean as they left the cave.

* * *

**Instead of Mario Cart, how about we have some actual Mario Kart?**

**If you like Mario Kart, there's a new story up that you may like. :3**


	10. Hammer Time

**If you were expecting another chapter of NSMBX, you thought wrong. ;P**

* * *

Mario and Luigi: A Superstar Story

Chapter 10: Hammer Time

The Bros exited the cave, and smelt the fresh air.

"Ah! Fresh air!" Luigi sighed happily as Mario collected a Mushroom and a Nut from some nearby blocks.

Luigi then smashed one of three rocks blocking a bridge onwards, and Mario smashed the other two just because they were there. Then they carried on across the bridge.

"Wait up!" Sledge cried. "We forgot to mention one thing!"

"We never taught you how to use your Hammers in battle!" Mallet said. "Ready to learn?"

"I'm pretty sure we know how, but sure anyway." Mario agreed.

"Then we'll explain it…in battle!"

. . .

"So, to whack with a Hammer…" Mallet began. "You just gotta hold it back, swing it over your head, and let the hammer do the rest."

"Talkin' don't do it justice, though. Lemme explain by example." Sledge started. "First, let's do some solo attacks usin' Hammers!"

Mario walked up to Sledge, brought out his hammer, held it behind him, and swung it over his head and into Sledge's face.

"Oooh! Man! That smarts!" Sledge groaned as Mario looked somewhat guilty. "But I'm a Hammerhead Bro, so I'll be fine! No big deal!"

"When you feel the Hammer shake, let loose the power." Mallet confirmed. "When it shakes, you got it?"

"So, uh, next we gotta learn how to defend with a Hammer!" Sledge said as Mallet approached Luigi. "Now…pull out your hammer and hold it!"

Luigi took out his hammer and did what Mario did, but he attempted to swing too early, and failed.

"You gotta be patient, man! Hold it a little longer!" Sledge cried out. "Do it again, man…"

Luigi brought out his hammer again, and did the same as before, but waited a moment after having it fully out. Too bad he had it out too long so that when he swung it, the head fell off the stick and on to the floor.

"No! That's too long!" Sledge cried out again. "You gotta release the power before the Hammer starts to shake or the whole deal falls apart! Do it again, man…"

Luigi brought out his hammer yet again, and did the same as before, but waited a moment shorter than last time, but longer than the first time. It was perfect, and hit Mallet without a problem.

"Yowch! That'll leave a mark!" Mallet cried out. "So anyway, you get the idea! OK, so to review…For Hammer attacks chose your Hammer and wait 'til it shakes with power, then release it on to your target! BONK! Perfect Hammer attack! On defense, hold it behind you and release it before it shakes…BONK! Perfect Hammer defense! Good luck, and practice up!"

. . .

"Didja get all that? You better have!" Mallet asked.

"You better look alive with those things. There are a lot of monsters that your jump won't do diddly to!" Sledge explained. "You gotta learn some new tricks if you wanna get by 'em!"

"I'm sure you guys'll be able to take care of business!" Mallet assured. "If you can't, you're gonna have to give us those Hammers back!"

"Hey! We're goin' back so we can ride the cart again!" Sledge cheered.

"Yeah! Cart riders are thrillin' and filled with suspenders!" Mallet agreed.

"Aren't those a kind of shorts or something?" Mario asked, confused.

"You nitwit! It's 'filled with suspense!' SUSPENSE!" Sledge growled.

"Oops! Well, excuuuuse me!" Mallet said as they hammered off, literally.

The Bros went up some stairs to the north, and collected two Mushrooms, Syrup and several coins from various blocks. Then they headed back south, and south again.

"Apparently we're now in North-West Beanbean." Luigi stated as he read the map. "We're getting really close now."

"Luigi, look! Enemies!" Mario whispered as he pointed at a Sharpea, which looked a lot like a Spiny. "You know what this means?"

"Erm, no."

"IT'S. HAMMER. TIME." Mario said while wearing shades.

The Bros took out their hammers, and rushed at the Sharpea, bonking it on the head. There turned out to be two. Mario did Drill Bros to see what would happen, and it ended up drilling off 60HP from that Sharpea, who barely had even a quarter of that.

"It's super effective!" Luigi chanted out.

Since bonking an enemy on the head in the field has a chance of making them dizzy when the battle starts, there were no movements from any Sharpea. Luigi smashed 6HP out of the second Sharpea, who woke up from its daze and hit Luigi, causing him to lose 1HP. Mario laughed at that, and finished the job.

There were more Sharpeas further into the path, which Mario and Luigi destroyed with their hammers. Once they got out of the area, they saw a sign.

"North, Hoohoo Mountain." Luigi read. "South, Beanbean Castle Town. We're nearly there! Let's keep going!"

And so they did, to get unintentionally jump on a Sworm, or what Mario called the duck version of a Monty Mole because it was sticking its head out of the ground like a Monty Mole does. A couple of Sharpeas joined him, and they attacked the Bros…to be counterattacked each, one being defeated instantly. Mario hammered the other Sharpea, finishing it off, and the Sworm dug into the ground, and popped up next to Luigi, who whacked it out of instinct. It cried out, and dug back to where it was earlier. Luigi walked up to the Sworm, and took out his hammer.

"Time to play Whack-A-Duck!" Luigi yelled as he defeated the creature, claiming a dropped Woo Bean.

After taking out the other two Sworms, they decided to go east.

. . .

"That was terrible!" Luigi cried, panting heavily. "We were nearly killed out there!"

"Those things are dangerous! They were doing all kinds of mumbo jumbo!" Mario added, panting too. "Let's just go south instead. I don't want to go back there for a while."

So the Bros walked south instead, finally recovering from what took place in the east. They hammered the two Sworms there, and continued south. In the next area, they whacked the Sworm there, followed by hammering the two Sharpeas that were also there. Then they cleared the place out with their hammers yet again, headed south for some training (during said training, Mario levelled up to Level 9, getting +3 DEF, and Luigi also levelled up to Level 9, getting +3 POW), then returned and entered the town via the west bridge.

As they crossed the bridge, they looked up, and saw something that horrified them.

"No…we were too late." Mario mumbled, gaping at the sight.

* * *

**Don't worry, the chapters ahead aren't nearly as short.**


	11. The Wrecked City

**Whoops, forgot to update yesterday. This'll probably be the only chapter today, though.**

* * *

_As they crossed the bridge, they looked up, and saw something that horrified them._

_"No…we were too late." Mario mumbled, gaping at the sight._

_. . ._

Mario and Luigi: A Superstar Story

Chapter 11: The Wrecked City

The town was wrecked…someone destroyed it before they got here. The closest Bean to them looked weak, and stumbled slowly towards them, but collapsed on the floor. The Bros ran over to him.

"C-C-Cackletta…" he cried. "Th-the town was attacked…the horror…"

He fainted, and the Bros decided to explore the place.

"…Ca-Cackletta and the odd, ugly, helmet-wearing one…they lay waste to the town." Another Bean on the floor groaned. "It…it was so sudden. There wasn't anything we could do."

"Well there's something we're gonna do." Mario said firmly. "Come on, Luigi. Let's go to the castle."

The Bros walked to the north-east, and climbed up the stairs. They dashed until they reached the castle.

"Halt! You there! Halt!" one of two guards yelled. "You can't just waltz on in here! The town has just been attacked! Which means the castle could be attacked at any moment!"

"Wait…the castle hasn't been attacked yet?" Luigi asked.

"No, and we'd like to keep it that way!"

"Lady Lima has instructed us not to allow anyone to enter the castle! Anyone whatsoever! Having said that, if you still wish to enter, you must explain your names and your motives!"

"I'm Super Mario!"

"WHAT?" one of the Bean Guards cried. "YOU are the world-famous Mario!?"

"I'm his bro, Luigi!"

"WHAT? And YOU are the legendary Luigi!?"

"I'm a legend? Cool!"

"Uh, Luigi who?!" the other Bean Guard asked.

"Shh! I have no idea…"

Luigi fell to the floor.

"If you really are the superstar Mario from the Mushroom Kingdom, then prove it!"

Mario jumped high into the air.

"Th-that jump…no mistaking it!"

"Th-This guy is really Mario?"

"Shh! …I can't be certain."

Mario fell to the floor.

"Well, bro, ANYONE can jump."

"Anyway…what business would the famous Mario and Lui-uh…other guy have in this castle?"

"Hmm! Ah! Ho ho!" The Bean Guard mumbled as the Bros explained the situation.

"Huhhh? Ohhhh! I see! Gotcha!"

"What do they want?"

"No clue…"

Mario and Luigi fell to the floor in unison.

"…Enough! Regardless of all that nonsense, you may not enter! Now begone!"

"NONSENSE?" Mario asked, looking annoyed. "Luigi, show 'em."

Luigi nodded, and pulled out the rose Peasley gave them.

"Prince Peasley's Rose! Are you friends of the prince?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Mario asked.

"Umm, listen, I think maybe we ought to let these guys inside!"

"Yes, yes you should." Mario agreed.

"Umm…OK. Taking into account that rose and your wacky story, we can allow you to enter!"

"Finally!" Luigi cheered.

"That was one wacky story! Woo!"

The Bros entered, and traversed through several rooms, passing a guy on the floor and finding a Bros Block. After bashing it several times, they left the room and approached the guy on the floor.

"…"

"Well! Master Mario! And Master Luigi!" a voice called out. "I am Lady Lima, highest of the ladies at court…the gatekeepers told me of you. Are you indeed the Mario and Luigi of fame? The superstars?"

The Bros started jumping to prove it as Lady Lima examined them.

"…Yes. I can't deny that such jumping is the hallmark of the Mario and Luigi of legend…"

The Bros then thought she wasn't buying it, so they tried explaining.

"…Pardon me? What are you trying to tell me? Oh, DO speak up!"

The Bros started shouting their words.

"Oh! Such ruckus! Speak in softer voices!"

That shut both of them up.

"Now, hear me! As you saw, the town is in ruins, and the castle is under strict guard! At a time like this I cannot allow a suspicious pair such as you to meet the queen! As the queen's longest-serving lady at court, I must act in the interest of her royal safety!"

Lady Lima took out a remote, and pressed a button. A trapdoor opened up below the Bros' feet, and they fell in.

. . .

Mario landed down on the floor...on his face, just like Luigi. They seemed to be in the sewers.

"Hear my words!" Lady Lima called as she lowered herself on a rope within sight of the Bros. "If you two are indeed the true Mario Bros, you must prove it by repairing the castle's plumbing! If you can completely fix it, then you may meet Queen Bean! Now then, show me the work ethic of the superstar Mario Bros!"

Lady Lima was pulled up out of the trapdoor, and the Bros got up.

"Well, since we're actually plumbers, this'll be easy!" Mario said casually.

"It's kinda ironic."

"Come on, let's fix the plumbing!"

The Bros headed towards all the pipes and whatnot, and began their mission.

"It's a…it's a…it's a Fighter Fly recolor!" Mario cried while pointing, pulling out his hammer. "This is going to be fun."

"Oh, boy." Was all Luigi said as he followed Mario into battle against a pair of Super Flies.

Mario bounced off both Super Flies, dishing out 4 plates of damage. The flies tried to retaliate by hopping towards a Bro each, but they were counterattacked easily. Then Mario and Luigi took out their hammers and smacked both of them, defeating the Flies with ease. Mario nabbed a Mushroom they dropped, and stated to work on the pipes. There was a leak nearby with a plug being continuously blasted in the air by the leaking water, which Mario stopped by hammering it into place.

"Good job, bro!"

"No problem!" Mario responded. "Hey, look, there's a Spiny here!"

Mario jumped towards it, starting another battle.

"Oh, snap! It's Mario!" the Spiny cried. "Hey, buddy! I need back-up! There's this Mario guy here with some lean mean green guy!"

A Spiny in the distance looked, and waddled over.

"Oh, hey! It's that Luigi guy! I always wanted to spike him like a volleyball!"

"I'm not too fond of these Spinies…" Luigi trailed.

"I bet they won't be very fond with my HAMMER!" Mario shouted as he smacked the first one hard. That same Spiny groaned and spun towards Luigi, who hit him back where he came from. But Luigi didn't notice the Spiny who rammed him in the back. Luigi responded with a hammer whack…rubbing his back in pain. Mario decided to hit the same one to remind him not to mess with Luigi. The other Spiny gasped at his friend being knocked out, and made another attack on Luigi, who whacked him away, and smacked him again even harder, finishing him. Then Luigi went to smack in a plug to the west, and Mario did the same to a plug to the south. Dodging some Super Flies and Spinies, they reached a fourth plug all the way north. The Bros decided to be unique this time, and Luigi struggled to pick up Mario. He eventually did, and tossed him on to the plug, smashing it down into place, causing the water to flow strong again and opening the gate in turn.

"We did it! Now, let's go meet the queen!" Luigi cheered as they headed towards the gate, dodging the Spiny nearby, but being interrupted by a Super Fly. Mario, seeing this coming, hammered one of them into a daze, and counter-attacking the other who attacked him. Mario got a Lucky hit, and instantly finished the first Super Fly, probably putting him in a hospital for weeks. The Super Fly saw this and cowered behind a pipe, but Luigi found and defeated him.

"I just realized, that fall really took a toll on me." Mario groaned, noticing how he only had a quarter of his health left. Mario started noming on a Mushroom, and Luigi did so too seeing as he was quite low too. Mario then chugged a Syrup because his BP was even lower than his HP was. Then they moved on to the next area.

"Huh? There's more?" Luigi asked, shocked at the sight of unplumbed pipes.

"Ah, well, there is. Let's continue fixing the sewers then." Mario simply answered.

The Bros journeyed into the sewers of Beanbean Castle Town. Unaware of what may happen as the result of their task, they continued into the sewers…

* * *

**Guess what? My computer died! Then I had to re-do this AND the next chapter! Hooray for data loss! Though they turned out slightly better than before, which made me glad it died. ^^**

**And to my pleasure, after the next chapter, there won't be many short chapters for a while.**


	12. Sewer Security

Mario and Luigi: A Superstar Story

Chapter 12: Sewer Security

The Bros entered the third part of the sewers, noticing several things.

"Hmm…the water isn't going, and the plugs are in place." Mario deduced. "We need to do something to activate the water again, I guess."

"Yeah, that's what I'd think." Luigi agreed as two Super Flies and two Spinies attacked.

Luigi was hit by one of the Flies, but struck the other with his foot. Mario smashed on to one of the two Flies, defeating it instantly. Mario then got struck by a ramming Spiny, but sent the other Spiny who tried to attack in its shell into a wall. Luigi smacked a Spiny, then Mario counterattacked a sneak attack from the Super Fly, and continued his retaliation with a hammer whack. Mario was too focused on his victory after defeating the Super Fly that he didn't see one of the Spinies shell ram him. Luigi paid close attention, and smacked away the incoming shell on his side. Luigi smashed the Spiny who hit Mario, and it started panting. It was nearly defeated. Mario whacked the other, knocking it out of range and defeating it. The remaining Spiny growled out of rage, and smashed into Luigi while in its shell. Luigi groaned, and hammered him out of sight.

"Woo. Level-up!" Mario cheered as he chose +3DEF.

"I'm-a Level 10 too!" Luigi also cheered as he chose +3HP.

The Bros started noming on a Mushroom each to get their energy back, and rushed to the east, entering an area with four plugs in place, and a screw ready to be spun. Mario and Luigi got ready, then Spin Jumped it. The four plugs came out. Luigi somehow managed to deduced they apparently had 4 whacks to get all 4 plugs back into place to activate the others, however, other plugs may be brought back up or down even if they didn't whack them…which makes it harder to do. For the sake of organization, from left to right, they're plugs 1-4.

Luigi whacked plug 2, causing 1 and 3 to pop out, but 2 going in. Luigi then whacked plug 1, causing it to go in, but making plug 4 come out. Luigi hesitated, then whacked plug 3, causing only it to go down, and nothing else. Then he closed his eyes and smashed plug 4 into place. He opened them, and they were all in. A platform to the northeast was raised into the air by a spout of water.

"That has to be the single greatest example of extreme luck I have ever seen." Mario exclaimed.

"I simply guessed." Luigi admitted.

They moved on to the newly raised platform, High Jumped on to it, and on to the ledge above it to the north. They entered a new room with a screw in another pipe. Before they spun it, Mario claimed two Mushrooms from the blocks in the room. Once they spun the screw, stuff happened, which they were not sure where exactly took place.

"Maybe the water's flowing down there again…?" Mario suggested, in a puzzled voice.

"I would guess it is, since that's the only thing I can think of that could have happened." Luigi added.

They made their way back to the third part of the sewers, and saw the flowing water.

"It's still weak, so I'm thinking we need to hit those plugs again." Mario said.

Mario swiftly hit one into place, while Luigi did the other. The gate opened.

"Hey, there's a screw there! Should we spin it?" Luigi asked.

"Sure."

The Bros hopped on over, and spun the screw. A Spiny came out of a pipe above them, attacking the duo. Then another Spiny and popped out, along with a Super Fly, who Luigi counterattacked. Mario smashed the first Spiny, and it retaliated by Shell Tossing itself into Mario…who smacked him away and knocked him out. The other Spiny gasped, and decided to go for the easier target…Luigi. Its plan worked, and it snickered to itself as Luigi finished off the Super Fly. Mario hammered the creature as a warning, and it hit Mario in rage. Luigi then smashed it back into the pipe as revenge, and it fainted there.

The Bros hopped on to a nearby ledge, and snagged two Mushrooms and a Syrup. They hopped down, and was mobbed by a Spiny.

Mario counterattacked a Super Fly that decided to ambush him along with a cohort and a Spiny. Mario quickly counterattacked swiftly with a kick to the face when a Super Fly tried approaching him. Luigi was bashed by the other Super Fly, who Mario hammered into the ground…defeating it. The Spiny finally made a move when Mario wasn't looking, and hit him in its shell. It screeched as Luigi both counterattacked the remaining Super Fly, and bounced off of it, smashing down on to the Spiny. It fell on its back, and Mario did a long jump towards it, and drill his hammer into the Spiny. It fainted, and Mario kicked it out of sight. While that happened, Luigi decided to finish the Super Fly with a hammer…and got a lucky hit, killing the Super Fly with damage to spare. Mario gave a thumbs-up to Luigi, and he winked.

Now that they couldn't be rudely interrupted on their way to the gate, the Bros headed on into the fourth main part of the sewers. Luigi quickly scouted the place.

"Only one plug and a giant gate, with a tinier one nearby?" Luigi asked himself.

"Apparently…stuff is about to happen." Mario assumed, before whacking the only plug there. The water started flowing properly again, and both gates opened. Voices came from the bigger one, and Lady Lima and the Bean equivalent of a Toad came walking out.

"Ohhh, thank the stars! You've saved me! You heroic souls!" Lady Lima cried.

The Bros made some poses, and Lady Lima gasped.

"C-Could you be the Mario Bros from the Mushroom Kingdom?" Lady Lima asked. "What are the Mario Bros doing in a place like this?"

"Uh…you dropped us in here and ordered us to fix the sewers in order to be recognised as the Mario Bros, remember?" Mario asked, slightly confused.

"What? You claim that I dropped the two of you down here? And that I told you to fix the plumbing?"

"Umm…yeah, you kinda did. Wasn't that you?" Luigi asked.

"…Most perplexing…" Lady Lima trailed. "Why, we were attacked by Cackletta and her fiends and have been stuck here ever since!"

"Hmm..." Mario continued to think.

"Hmm…perhaps the "Lady Lima" you encountered was…" Lady Lima started.

. . .

In the castle, "Lady Lima" was walking back and forth near a green star protected by a barrier.

"When will they finish already…?" Lady Lima wondered.

At that very moment, the barrier went down. Lady Lima grinned.

"Eeyah ha ha ha!" Lady Lima laughed. "Foolish Mario Bros! You have completely and pathetically fallen into my trap! Repairing the plumbing is the key to disabling the Beanstar security system!"

Fawful ran into the room bearing important news.

"Cackletta! It is the hurrying time! We must take that Beanstar and fastly run away from this place!" Fawful cried.

"Lady Lima" suddenly transformed into Cackletta.

"Eeeyah ha ha ha!" Cackletta cackled. "At last… At long, long last… I have in my possession both the Beanstar and Peach's voice!"

. . .

"That thing that can grant all desires… The Beanstar…" Lady Lima explained. "We have always remained at this castle, acting as guardians… Protecting the Beanstar and keeping it out of evil hands…"

"There's no doubt about it! Cackletta must be after the Beanstar! Oh no!" the Bean nearby exclaimed.

"Ohhhhhhh! Heroic Mario Bros! Quickly, now! You must go to the Beanstar! Go!" Lady Lima yelled, pointing to the exit. "You must not let the Beanstar fall into the hands of evil! Quickly! Quickly! Do not dawdle!"

"Erm, can we do just ONE tiny little thing before that?" Mario asked nervously.

"What? There's no time!"

"It may save us."

"Do it and hurry! Move fast!"

Mario blitzed into where Lady Lima and co were held captive. There were several more Beans from the castle in there. As he collected the Syrup, coins and three Mushrooms there, he heard the voices of the Beans from the castle.

"Is Queen Bean safe?"

"I'm so frightened at the thought of Cackletta being in here that I refuse to leave… Can't make me!"

He rushed out, and Luigi followed him to the exit of the sewers.

"Qui-Quickly! Go to the Beanstar!" Lady Lima urged.

The Bros climbed up through the stairs around the large orange sewer pipe, and they reached the top.

They darted into the room with the Beanstar, to see nothing there, although someone was cackling.

"Aww… We're too late! The Beanstar…" a Bean from downstairs who rushed up there moaned.

"Eeyah ha ha ha!"

It was Cackletta.

"The Beanstar and Princess Peach's voice are already mine!" Cackletta cackled after floating down into sight on her (awesome) rocket rocking chair, along with her minion Fawful on his headgear.

"Not any more they will be!" Mario countered.

"Once we awaken the Beanstar with Princess Peach's voice, this world will be Cackletta's snack cake!" Fawful chortled.

"Sheesh…what's with you and food?" Luigi mumbled.

"Say, Mario Boys, you haven't bothered to pay a visit to your host, Queen Bean…" Cackletta started. "I thought you had better manners! Wouldn't you agree, Queen Bean?"

Suddenly, a massive muscular female Bean with red eyes crashed on to the ground out of nowhere, startling the Bros. This sent the Bros to the floor. She was apparently a bean, had a crown on her head, purple hair, an orange dress, two bands around her arms, a little button on her dress and was very muscular…especially in the arms.

"Grrroo-hoo-hoo!" Queen Bean boomed.

"That's Queen Bean?" Mario asked himself.

"Perhaps the three of you can sit down over tea to discuss the finer points of foreign policy!"

"Nah, that sounds too boring." Luigi muttered.

"Eeyah ha ha ha!" Cackletta chuckled as she and Fawful flew off with the Beanstar.

"Huhn-gahhhhhhh!" Queen Bean growled as she charged at the Bros.

"SHE'S GONE GORILLA MODE!" Luigi cried. "How are we going to stop her?"

"If we can take down a evil king, we can take out a...queen." Mario simply answered as he readied for battle.

Luigi got ready too, and they commenced their battle with Queen Bean.

* * *

**Man, that area felt really short. I expected it to be a bit longer. Oh well. Anyway, BOSS CHAPTER next time!**


	13. Tea-Time Rumble with Queen Bean

**I kinda wish I got this out at tea time, whenever that is. :/**

**This was actually my favorite boss (so far) to write.**

* * *

_ "The Beanstar and Princess Peach's voice are already mine!" Cackletta cackled after floating down into sight on her (awesome) rocket rocking chair, along with her minion Fawful on his headgear._

_"Not any more they will be!" Mario countered. _

_"Once we awaken the Beanstar with Princess Peach's voice, this world will be Cackletta's snack cake!" Fawful chortled._

_"Sheesh…what's with you and food?" Luigi mumbled._

_"Say, Mario Boys, you haven't bothered to pay a visit to your host, Queen Bean…" Cackletta started. "I thought you had better manners! Wouldn't you agree, Queen Bean?"_

_Suddenly, a massive muscular female Bean with red eyes crashed on to the ground out of nowhere, startling the Bros. This sent the Bros to the floor. She was apparently a bean, had a crown on her head, purple hair, an orange dress, two bands around her arms, a little button on her dress and was very muscular…especially in the arms._

_"Grrroo-hoo-hoo!" Queen Bean boomed._

_"That's Queen Bean?" Mario asked himself._

_"Perhaps the three of you can sit down over tea to discuss the finer points of foreign policy!"_

_"Nah, that sounds too boring." Luigi muttered._

_"Eeyah ha ha ha!" Cackletta chuckled as she and Fawful flew off with the Beanstar._

_"Huhn-gahhhhhhh!" Queen Bean growled as she charged at the Bros._

_"SHE'S GONE GORILLA MODE!" Luigi cried. "How are we going to stop her?"_

_"If we can take down a evil king, we can take out a...queen." Mario simply answered as he readied for battle._

_Luigi got ready too, and they commenced their battle with Queen Bean._

. . .

Mario and Luigi: A Superstar Story

Chapter 13: Tea-Time Rumble with Queen Bean

Queen Bean approached the Bros, both arms out like the corner of a square.

"What's she doing…?" Luigi asked nervously.

She pulled her arms back together, generating a bright yellow energy.

"I'm actually kinda worried now." Mario admitted.

Once the energy was blindingly large, she smashed both her arms on to the floor, creating purple waves. The waves caught Mario and Luigi off-guard, and they were blown into the wall.

"Ouch…that really hurt." Luigi groaned in unison.

"I really do not want to be the one to fix that." Mario said, looking at the damage dealt to the wall as he rubbed his back.

"Hmm…Mario, why don't we attack her arms?" Luigi asked. "Maybe something will happen if we take 'em out, since we can't directly attack her because of that spiked crown."

"OK, then."

Mario performed Splash Bros on Queen Bean's left arm. The power of the attack caused her left arm to shrink back to a skinny size, with the sudden shrinking nearly making her crown fall off. The Bros high-fived each other, and they then did Bounce Bros and bounced off her right arm. Her right arm stayed the same.

"I don't think we did enough damage that time…" Luigi trailed, worried at the sight.

Queen Bean raised her right arm, and charged power. It wasn't as much as last time, but it was still quite a bit. She smashed her arm down, and a tinier wave came out of the ground. The Bros weren't expecting the same attack, and were blown back a bit. Luigi fell on his butt from the blowback, while Mario skidded to a stop, maintaining his balance. He then ran at Queen Bean, and gave her a good kick to the arm. Her right arm went small like the left one. The sudden shrinking made her crown fall off this time.

"She looks a lot less threatening now." Mario said.

"She still looks really threatening though. She just was much more threatening when she had crazy large arms." Luigi admitted.

Queen Bean growled, and spat out some beans. Mario jumped over the one aimed at him, and Luigi jumped on to the bean as it was below him. The bean rolled back to Queen Bean, and hatched a Beanie. Mario made a face at Luigi at the sight of the creature. Luigi gave a sheepish grin, and yelped when he was hit with another bean by Queen Bean.

Luigi jumped, and spun in the air as he kicked Queen Bean's head.

"How dare you attack my now evil queen!" the Beanie growled.

This distracted Mario and Luigi from dodging an incoming bean to each of them. Mario gave the Beanie a dark look, and stomped him. It was a 1HKO. Luigi performed Bounce Bros…but failed and only did a fraction of the damage. When he landed, he hopped over another incoming bean, and slipped off the second, which rolled back and became a Beanie. Mario ignored it this time, and failed to do Splash Bros, doing a leap frog on Luigi, and flying into Queen Bean. Mario fell to the floor once he did some damage, and scuttled away just before Queen Bean crushed him…because her arms grew back to their muscular style. She also somehow got her crown back on her head.

"The arms are back!" Luigi cried, flapping his arms and jumping.

Queen Bean suddenly started charging up like she did at the start of the battle, and when her attack was fully charged, she smashed her arms down hard, and blew away both Bros into the exact same spot they were knocked into last time, just more painfully.

"Ouch…" Luigi groaned.

Mario and Luigi limped back to where Queen Bean was, and shook off the pain.

"Hmm…" Mario thought. "I got it!"

"Got what?"

"A plan on how to take her down!"

"How?"

"Two words: Drill. Bros."

Luigi grinned as they performed Drill Bros, doing a ton of damage on Queen Bean's head. Luigi then tried hammering Queen Bean's lower body…and barely scratched her dress. Queen Bean gave Luigi an evil glare, and he hastily ran back to Mario, hiding behind him. Mario made a blank face, and as he was, Queen Bean had managed to charge up enough to do the same attack, knocking both Bros to the floor this time. They struggled to get up, but did anyway.

"Bro, you don't look too good. I'm tossing you a mushroom." Luigi stated as he gave Mario a mushroom once he had jumped on Queen Bean's right arm.

Queen Bean roared, and repeated the attack from earlier. Luigi barely scraped the top of the top of the purple waves and fell flat on his face.

"Ouch…" Luigi moaned.

Mario was hit by the waves and blown far back…but he didn't crash into a wall this time either…he was knocked to the floor again. He got up. Mario had a smirk on his face. He signalled Luigi to do Drill Bros. With a jump off of Luigi, and a spin in the air, Mario managed stopped over Luigi, and just before he landed on Luigi, the green plumber pushed him back into the air, doing several spins in the air and performing a drill attack on Queen Bean's head.

Queen Bean made a face, and exploded with stars..then collapsed on the floor.

"Victory!" Mario and Luigi cheered as they collected what Queen Bean dropped.

"…Oh, no! Cackletta forced Queen Bean to eat a Belly Blech worm! That's what turned her into THIS!" Lady Lima cried.

"At least she isn't naturally like this…if she was, that would be weird." Mario admitted.

"Our fair kingdom is doomed! Doomed! How will we ever return Queen Bean to normal?"

"Hey! We can do something about this problem!" Mario piped in.

"…Wh-What's that you say? The Mario Bros will do something about it?"

"Oh no!" Luigi cried.

"Oh yes!" Mario answered.

"What can you possibly mean? You speak of the impossible!" Lady Lima said.

The Bros fell to the ground.

"Why, there is no known way to spit out an ingested Belly Blech!" Lady Lima explained. "Well, except… There is that one way… That last resort… It sure isn't pretty though… She may be able to spit it up if she drank the legendary Chuckola Reserve from Chucklehuck Woods."

"We can go there!" Mario piped in again.

"You'll go to Chucklehuck Woods?"

"Yup."

"You'll find the Chuckola Reserve?"

"Of course!"

"Well… If you're going to make such bold proclamations, I suppose I have no choice but to rely on you…" Lady Lima decided as she approached Mario. "Take this Beanbean Brooch and head southwest from the castle toward Chateau de Chucklehuck. If you find the Chuckola Reserve hidden deep in Chucklehuck Woods, our queen may yet recover!"

Mario held the Brooch in the air, and grinned. He was about to get Luigi and head there…but…

"Hey, you!" Lady Lima yelled.

"Who, me?" Luigi asked, trying to look innocent.

"Yeah, you! Quit poking our queen!"

"Wah!" Luigi shrieked as he chased after Mario.

Lady Lima mumbled something as she watched her queen, in hope the Bros would pull through. She gasped, and realized she forgot something. Lady Lima called in a Castle Bean, and gave him something to deliver…

. . .

Mario led Luigi out of the castle, and as they approached the town area again, someone's voice was heard.

"Mario! Luigi!" a Bean called. "Lady Lima has asked that you also take this along with you."

The Bean placed a Bean Badge in Mario's hand.

"That thing is a badge. If you equip it, you'll be a little stronger in battle." The Bean explained. "Different badges have different effects, so… For now, if you get a badge, make sure you equip it! To equip it, open your suitcase."

"Badges make you stronger? That's awesome!" Mario chirped happily as he opened the suitcase

"To equip badges, look in this compartment." The Bean said, then pointing at a mirror. "Using this, you can see the gear and the badge you're equipped with. OK, Mario! Time to equip the badge I just gave you! Open this flap. This is where all the badges are placed. Normally, you'd pick a badge… It's simple this time, since you only have one right now…grab it, and you'll equip the badge!"

Mario equipped the Bean Badge.

"Now you're all set! Good luck! And be careful!"

Luigi gave the Bean a poke.

"Oh, uh… Sorry, Luigi, but if you want your own badge, you'll have to go buy one at the store." The Bean explained nervously as he ran back to the castle.

Luigi was poking the air now, and Mario just pushed him onwards.

. . .

Mario wanted Luigi to get a badge too, so he went to the store.

"Can I have that Pea Badge?" Mario asked.

"Sure. Oh, wow! Look at that mustache! With a mustache like that, I'm taking 10 coins off the cost of that badge! 12% off, my treat!"

"Oh, yes!" Mario cheered as he paid the 80 coins. "Hey can I also have those Blue Jeans and Bean Trousers?"

"Of course. I'll give you another discount…still 12% off. Altogether, that'll be 316 coins, please."

Mario handed over the coins, and hurried to Luigi who was waiting for him near the bridge.

"What did you get?" Luigi asked.

"I got you a badge and some new clothes." Mario answered, handing him his stuff.

"Oh, thanks bro!" Luigi cheered.

They headed to go find somewhere to change, then did so.

"Wow, I feel even stronger!" Mario and Luigi said in unison.

"So, let's head to Chucklehuck Woods!"

They dashed past several enemies to the south, to be bombed by a Beanie who had wings.

"Now they can fly?!" Mario growled.

Mario jumped on the Beanie, and made him lose his wings. The other Parabeanie (which happens to be their name) decided to swoop in a bash Mario. It hit him hard, and Luigi finished off the Beanie. Mario took the Parabeanie out of the sky, and Luigi finished it off. The Bros refilled their HP and BP with items, and continued to travel towards the gate.

Soon they encountered a large group of ledges, and on the highest one, there was a bridge there. The Bros jumped up the ledges and ran across the bridge to the west. They made it to a high ledge on the other side, and Spin Jumped towards a gate they noticed to the north. There were two Gentlemen Beans who had the napkin and everything. Mario decided to try something.

"Good day, sir. I wish to pass this gate to reach the forest known as Chucklehuck Woods." Mario said formally as Luigi was on the floor laughing.

"Travel here is permitted only for select individuals in order to guard the Chucklehuck Woods ecology."

"Sirs, I do possess the item known as the Beanbean Brooch, which I contain inside my suitcase. Does this give me the permission to gain access to the woods, perhaps?"

"OH! The Beanbean Brooch! The mark of special guests of Beanbean Castle!"

"Again, sirs, does this give me the permission to enter the woods? I must retrieve the legendary drink held high in regard, known as the Chuckola Cola in the Chuckola Reserve to rescue this land's lovely queen known as Queen Bean."

"…Very well, then! We shall permit you to enter these woods!"

The Beans stepped aside, and the gate lowered into the ground.

"We hope you will enjoy a taste of the incredibly full-flavored Chuckola Cola while you are here."

"Yeah, sure."

The Bros ran off towards the Chateau.

"Such a vulgar answer. I thought that man was a good-tempered gentleman. Hmph!"


	14. The Famous Shadow Thief, Popple

Mario and Luigi: A Superstar Story

Chapter 14: The Famous Shadow Thief, Popple

Dodging the enemies, Mario and Luigi made it to Chateau de Chucklehuck.

"I h-h-hope this place hasn't got any g-g-ghosts…" Luigi mumbled as they entered through the door. "Hey, this place isn't nearly as scary as that mansion!"

Mario shrugged, then examined the signs inside. The first one he looked at, was one with what he thought were fruit and leaves.

"Brewing Chuckola Cola…Step 1." Luigi read. "The main ingredient of Chuckola Cola is Chuckola Fruit, which grows only in Chucklehuck Woods."

Mario walked over to the second one. It had an arrow pointing at one of the fruit from earlier, which was in a barrel.

"Brewing Chuckola Cola…Step 2." Luigi read. "Place one Chuckola Fruit in a barrel that's been filled to the brim with savory syrup.

Mario continued to another sign with several speech bubbles surrounding another barrel.

"Brewing Chuckola Cola…Step 3." Luigi read. "Tell funny jokes to the fruit until it laughs, releasing soda bubbles deep within the brew."

Mario stopped at the fourth sign. It had a cup in front of some leaves, with pink liquid from a purple jar being poured in.

""Brewing Chuckola Cola…Step 4." Luigi read. "Bear in mind that the quality of both the fruit and the jokes will affect the brewing process."

Mario saw a sign of an man with a mustache holding a Chuckola Fruit in his left hand, and a cup in his right.

"Father of Chuckola Cola…First Generation Chateau Owner…Bubbles." Luigi read.

Mario and Luigi would have laughed if he didn't kick themselves. They carried on, still not laughing. In the next room the Bros entered, it had a ton of barrels. It was like a maze.

Mario and Luigi entered the barrel maze. By going northeast, southwest, north, east, north, west, southwest, east, south, west a bit, and finally south, the duo made it out.

"We made it out Lui…" Mario stopped when he saw who was behind him. It was a Bean dressed in clothes people would guess thieves wear. Mario yelped and was about to hammer him and question the guy, but he was already running away. He jumped on to some platforms that were resting on the barrels, and left the area.

"Luigi!" Mario called.

"Mario?" Luigi asked, coming out of the maze.

"What happened to you?"

"Some guy tripped me over."

"Oh, I think I saw him."

"Should we tail him?"

"Let's."

The Bros high jumped up the same platforms the guy from earlier did, and avoided the gaps in the barrels, and made their way to an exit to the west. There, they saw the guy from earlier.

"Ooooh! Boo! Blast! Criminy! The famous shadow thief, Popple, has been caught in full sight!" Popple yelped. "Cripes! You think you're ready, do ya? Well, nobody's more ready than me, see? I'll show you!"

Popple jumped off the barrels he was standing on, and walked to the middle of the room.

"Rookie! Rookie! Shake a leg!" Popple ordered.

"Yes, Boss!" Rookie answered.

Rookie was this large Koopa with green eyes, a large spiked shell and a blue mask. He had spiked bands on his arms, and his skin was the same as most Koopas. Mario and Luigi walked up to the duo, and were startled by who Rookie was.

"It's…YOU!" Mario cried.

"Say what? YOU, of all people, had to be Rookie?"

"Ah, shut up! OK, Rookie! It's your turn, see? I want you to squash those red and green drips there!"

"Yes, Boss!" Rookie answered.

"No! Don't you remember us?"

"Remember, we jump and hammer stuff?"

"Spinning? How could you forget the spinning?"

"Remember…" Rookie mumbled, closing his eyes to think hard.

. . .

Now he was in a castle…and a creature he couldn't make out ran up to him and bowed.

"K- -o-r, -i-!"

What was he calling him? It was too hard to hear him that he just couldn't figure out what he was just called. He suddenly blurted something out.

"-h-, -y -n-n?"

He didn't mean to say that, yet his mouth was talking for him. Why was he here?

"-u- F-s-, -e -a- -o- -a- - -o- -p- - -a-!"

"-H-T?!"

Those names…they rang a bell to Rookie. It was like he knew them and didn't at the same time.

"-r -e-, -a- - -e d-?"

"W- - - -p-n-?"

"- -z- -s a- -e -p- -h -i- - -a- -l- -m - t- C- -o-!"

"N- -t-."

"-e - s- -n B-B- -n- -m-m - -m-h -h-!"

"-e- o-."

"-l-, - -l- -t-p -l- -r -h- C- a- -v- -n-c- s- -h-y'-e -i-p- t- -h-d-!"

"-x- -p-."

"W- -b- -e- -u- -d -i- -o-?"

"N-."

"-e -o- -r-z- -e- -i- t- -r-s-l -n-?"

"A-t-n- -l-?"

Rookie just let his mouth go by itself…there was no point fighting back. The words just had to come out.

"N-n- -t - -o- -f m- -e-, -o- -u- -v-n-."

"-w -b- - -us- -e- - -oo-oo- -d P-P- -e?"

"Y-, -y -e-g-."

"G-h -a h-, -x-ll-. M-i- a- L-g- w-'t -e- i- -m-g!"

Those names…they seemed so familiar…but he wasn't sure. He wasn't able to get their actual names as everything was blurry and confusing.

. . .

"Red and Green… I feel like I know these two from somewhere… Weird…" Rookie trailed…returning to the world.

Mario and Luigi fell to the floor. They both knew what probably happened.

"Whaaat?! Rookie! Are you saying you're acquainted with these two palookas?" Popple demanded to know.

"Come on, remember us?" Luigi begged.

"We always used to fight, remember?"

"Yeah… Something about them feels reeeeeeeeal familiar… It makes me feel…real mad!" Rookie growled.

"Quit your babbling, before I backhand you...YOU! " Popple yelled at the Bros, silencing them instantly. "You two ugly mugs came here for the same reason as us! You want the fabled Chuckola Reserve! Boo! Boo, I say! You really think you can beat me to the punch? Well, open up those ears, punks! I, Popple, shadow thief, filcher of the world's riches, bet you that I get the Chuckola Reserve first! Rookie! Go to it!"

Rookie roared, and charged at the Bros. They each lunged to a side. Once they were back next to each other, they saw Popple running towards Mario. He tried hammering him away, but he dodged each and every attack. He made a extremely fast movement in which he stole a Mushroom from Mario.

"I'll be taking that, see?"

This made Mario mad. He took out his hammer, and whacked Popple in his moment of triumph.

"How dare you guys try to mess with the Great Popple! I'M THROWING HAMMERS!" Rookie bellowed.

Mario and Luigi were hit by the first two hammers, then a third came and bonked Luigi on the head. He pouted, and Mario and Luigi high-fived to do Bounce Bros on Popple, who was knocked to the floor by the force. Rookie saw this, and started throwing more hammers.

"OH NOES! HE'S THROWING HAMMERS!" Mario cried as he whacked one away from him.

Luigi did the same, and all hammers were deflected. Popple groaned, and used the Mushroom he stole.

"Not only does he steal our items…he uses them too?!" Luigi gaped.

"This jerk is going to pay." Mario said, preparing to do Splash Bros.

Popple was blown into the boxes of Chuckola Fruit from the sheer power of the technique. Mario and Luigi fell into hysterics. Rookie made a face as he threw more hammers which were knocked away.

"We can't attack Popple now, so how about we go for you know who?" Luigi suggested.

"We haven't got much of a choice, do we?"

"Nope."

Luigi jumped on Rookie, he barely felt anything. Popple was grinding his teeth while he was in the boxes, and Rookie pulled him out. Popple made a mad dash for Luigi, but he jumped just before he could steal anything or even attack, and Popple was jumped on. Mario performed Drill Bros on Rookie this time, and he felt the damage dealt to him. Rookie tossed a hammer at Luigi, which knocked him to the floor.

Mario helped his bro up, and Luigi declared they use Disperse Bros. They both nodded, and did the move, most of the damage being dealt to Popple. Rookie tossed another hammer at Luigi, and it bonked him on the head again. Popple tackled Mario, and the red plumber kicked him off, and then jumped on Rookie.

"Hey, why are you all going for me now?" Rookie moaned.

"Because maybe a bonk to the head will make you remember!" Mario answered as he landed back on the ground…to get hit by a hammer just like Luigi did.

Luigi also jumped on Rookie. Mario was tackled by Popple again.

"Quit bashing me or else you'll get drilled on better manners!" Mario growled at Popple.

"The legendary shadow thief listens to no one. NO ONE!" Popple retaliated. "What you gonna do about it?"

Mario used Drill Bros on him. Popple was knocked out and was even knocked back into the boxes Chuckola Fruit again.

"Rookie…get them…with your hammers…for me." Popple said as he fainted on the fruit.

Hammers were thrown (two at Mario, two at Luigi), and they hit their mark…except for the last one which Mario hit away. The Bros stomped on Rookie again, and deflected all incoming hammers. Rookie made a face, and thought for a moment.

"For some reason, fighting these guys…makes my gut flare up something fierce." Rookie mumbled.

Suddenly, he coughed out a line of fire aimed at Mario. He lunged out of the way at the last second. Popple saw this as he woke up, and grinned.

"Great work, Rookie!" Popple praised. "You just keep at it, see?"

"Yes, Boss!" Rookie chirped, doing a little dance. "Wow! That was spicy!"

"Phew, that was close." Mario sighed. "I'm shocked he forgot he could breathe fire…"

Luigi tossed Mario a Mushroom, which he gulped in one bite. Mario then proceeded to stomp on Rookie. Luigi whacked back several hammers, and just skimmed a blast of fire. While this happened, one of the hammers went stray, and hit Mario instead. Luigi slipped off Rookie when he attempted to jump on Rookie, and Mario failed his hammer attack.

Rookie tossed a hammer at Mario, who whacked it away. Then he blasted some fire at Luigi, which hit him hard. He then blasted Mario too, and they both rolled on the floor to put out the fire on them. Luigi smacked Rookie with his hammer successfully.

"Luigi, what do you say we finish him off?" Mario asked.

"Drill Bros?"

"Drill Bros."

With a jump on Luigi's back, Mario bounced into the air, managed to spin to stay in the air, and when he was above Luigi, he stopped spinning, and landed on Luigi's hands.

"ADVANCE!" both Bros shouted.

Luigi pushed Mario back into the air, this time above Rookie. The Koopa made a "O.o" face, and got ready to lose. Mario starting spinning above Rookie, slowly beginning to look like a drill.

Mario drilled himself into Rookie's head (partly because he was trying to make him remember) and finished him off. Rookie fell to the floor…and the battle was won.

"Oh... Ohhhh...I got heartburn..." Rookie moaned.

"Grrrrrr! Boo, I say! I'll...I'll remember this!" Popple growled after getting out of the box and dashed away from the Bros.

"Matching digits!" Mario cheered as he gained a level and chose HP. "WOW. I got +4 HP on the Roulette!"

"Oh yeah! +3DEF!" Luigi cheered as he got a level too and got a good number on the level-up roulette.

"…Geh! …Buh! …Haaaaack!" Popple coughed…then suddenly jumped back up. "Rookie! You bloated idiot! Who took you in when you were dazed and lost on the mountain? Me! You worthless vermin!"

"Oh, so that's ho-" Mario started.

"SHUT IT, YOU!" Popple yelled.

"I'm…so ashamed…" Rookie groaned, still on the floor.

"Meh! I don't care, see? We're fine as long as we get the Chuckola Reserve!" Popple assured himself. "Let's not mess with these two knuckleheads. We'll scram and hurry on ahead! Yeah…"

Popple darted off.

"Bwahahaha..." Rookie followed.

After a silent conversation through body movements, Mario and Luigi decided to tail them to the west. The door was in sight, but there was a barrel with voices screaming out of them. Mario gave the barrel a good kick, and it hit a box of Chuckola Fruits. Two Beans came flying out of the crash and skidded to the floor in front of the Bros. They looked similar to Mario and Luigi, except they were Beans, white hair replaced where their caps would be, and they wore purple clothes. Their mustaches were also white.

"!" the Red Bean gaped. "'Ave I been saved? Rescued? Moi? Zut alors! 'Allo! I am zee maitre of zee chateau. Cork, zat is me!"

"And moi…I am zee petit brother of Cork… my name eez Cask!" Cask introduced. "We were stoofed into zese barrels by two tres bizarre characters. Are you zee ones 'oo saved us?"

"Hey, we know those guys! They attacked us earlier, and fled when we beat 'em! And yes, we saved you from that barrel by kicking it into those boxes." Mario explained.

"…Oh! Oh oh! Oh oh oh! To get straight to zee point…" Cork explained. "Zee two 'oo attacked us are after zee Chuckola Reserve zat lies deep in zese woods.."

"Et vous… You deux are after zee Chuckola Reserve, as well…" Cask trailed.

"Ah, oui. Mmm… Zee problem eez… Whether or not zat legendary soda even truly exists…" Cork admitted. "Why, even zee two of us 'ave never seen nor drunk zat famed drink… Zee Chuckola Reserve…"

"Behind Chucklehuck Woods eez a sanctuary no one can touchez! Getting zere eez not easy…" Cask added.

"But we can get there! We can jump high, hammer hard and spin across gaps!" Mario said.

"Eh? What? Quoi?" Cork asked.

Mario jumped…high.

"Vous can stompez on enemies…" Cork started.

Luigi hammered the purple striped carpet.

"And 'ammer rocks to leetle beets to make paths… Ah, oui?" Cask finished.

"Mmm… Perhaps vous could get through zee woods…" Cork mumbled. "But not with zese moves alone…"

Suddenly, Cork a lightbulb flashed as he figured out an idea.

"Cask, perhaps with zat wonderful 'ammer…" Cork started again.

"Hmm… Oui. Tres bien, mon frere. Indeed, little old moi was thinking zee exact same thing!" Cask agreed.

"Eh-hem! Pardon moi!" Cork requested.

The Bros moved out of the way, and Cork and Cask walked to the north. They then jumped up to a Bros Block, and bashed the coins out of it. Then they ran after Cork and Cask.

. . .

"After 'aving a tete-a-tete with mon frere just a moment ago… We 'ave decided!" Cork decided. "To thank vous for 'elping us, we 'ave decided to teach you two 'ammer techniques!"

"These are techniques that 'ave been perfected and refined and passed down 'ere at zees chateau." Cask explained. "If you master zese, zey should 'elp you in your bon voyage in zee woods…"

"Do you wish to try to master zese 'ammer techniques?" Cork asked.

"Of course!" Mario answered.

"First, Monsieur Green, give me your 'ammer." Cask requested.

Luigi handed his hammer to Cask, who gave it a look.

"Mmm… Oui, I see… With zees 'ammer…make sure you're in the back, Monsieur Green, and swing zee 'ammer!" Cask demonstrated.

Cask whacked Cork with the hammer, and he went flat and short.

"Et voila! Zat is zee secret 'ammer technique!" Cask continued. "Swing zee 'ammer 'igh and watch it plongez down with zee joie de vivre of zee woods!"

"Anyone hit with such a technique will become micro-sized. Oui. Tres, tres petit." Cask explained. "Anyone zis size would feel like a mouse. You could go into holes for micro-adventures! To return to normal, just swing zee 'ammer again in a superb whack d'amour!

Cask whacked Mini-Cork" with the hammer again, and he returned to normal size.

"Allez! Go! Try it!" Cask urged as he handed Luigi back his hammer.

"Don't hate me for this..bro." Luigi muttered.

Mario nodded, and Luigi whacked him. He became Mini-Mario.

"Oh! Incroyable! To think you could produce zee joie de vivre of zee woods on zee first shot!" Cask exclaimed. "Euh… Alors, perhaps you should try to put 'im back to normal."

With another whack of the hammer, Mario was back to normal.

"Excellent! Magnifique! Vous could be a genius!" Cask exclaimed again.

"Mmm… Now zen… Monsieur Red, give me your 'ammer zis time." Cork requested.

"Zis time, switch positions." Cork instructed as he examined the hammer.

Cork and Cask switched spots, and readied his hammer.

"Zen ready your 'ammer…then swing!" Cork continued to instruct.

He smashed Cask into the ground. Cask was hardly visible.

"Zis! ZIS is zee ultimate 'ammer technique. Tres bien, non?" Cork asked. "Crashing down on a gust of wind with zee power of zee earth! Whoever eez struck by zis 'ammer will be completely buried and 'idden in zee earth. Of course, in zis state, moving around underground is possible. One feels much like a mole. Why, vous can even sneak under fences for micro-adventures. To come back above ground, just jump. Allez! Go! Try it!"

Cask had already jumped out of his hole. The Bros switched positions, and Mario got ready to swing at Luigi, who didn't like this idea.

"Do you really have to hit me with that hammer?"

"Yup. Though I figured you wouldn't be comfortable with it, so I also bought this green hard hat. I even got myself a red one just in case I needed it."

"Cool!" Luigi cheered as he took it out of Mario's hand and put it on his head. "Ready!"

Mario smashed Luigi's head with the hammer, and he went underground.

"AH, BON! Zee power of zee earth crashes down in a burst of wind! Zat was perfect!" Cork praised. "Ah oui, just jump to pop up out of zee ground again!"

Luigi jumped, and he popped out of the ground. Luigi tucked away his hard hat, and stood in front of Cork and Cask.

"FANTASTIQUE!" Cork exclaimed. "Now, it eez time to put zese new 'ammer techniques to zee test!"

"Use zee techniques you learned to get zee two cola goblets in zee room next door. "Cask explained. "Zee two goblets of which I speak are two of zee Beanbean Kingdom's greatest treasures! Zee sparkling glass is brilliatne! It eez zee perfect reward for you who have gained zese techniques."

"So, monsieurs! Procure zee two goblets!"

The Bros darted off to the east.

"Look, a hole to the north of here! Let's check it out!" Mario decided. Once near the marked circle, Mario let Luigi put on his hard hat, and smashed him into the ground. Luigi popped of the ground, gaining a Chuckle Bean.

"I feel we need to collect a lot of these if we want something nice." Luigi admitted.

They headed back to where they entered, and jumped down the ledge. There were two statues there.

"Mouse's Living Room." Luigi read from the first statue.. "Take care not to bump your head on the low entryway."

He then walked to the second nearby.

"Steel Flooring…" Luigi read. "Steel flooring is so hard, you cannot go through it."

"I'm guessing you're going to have to whack me with that hammer of yours." Mario assumed.

Luigi nodded, and whacked him hard. Mario became Mini-Mario again, and slipped through the hole in front of the steel flooring. Mini-Mario jumped up a ledge, and snagged the Red Goblet.

"I got it!" Mario called out, running back.

Luigi returned him to normal, and they carried on to a gate. Nearby, there was a statue which Luigi decided to read out.

"Mole's Living Room…" Luigi read out as he put his hard hat on. "Tunnel beneath fences. Try not to get your clothes dirty!"

Mario smashed him into the ground, and he tunnelled beneath the fence to the other side. He popped out, and attempted to jump up to a high ledge to grab the Green Goblet. He saw a statue and a switch above a ledge. He ran to the statue.

"Please do not hit anything on the wall." Luigi read out to himself.

He jumped to the ledge near the switch, and whacked it. The gate keeping Mario out went into the ground, and Mario ran inside. They high-fived each other, and High Jumped up to the Green Goblet. Luigi snagged it, and they dashed back to Cork and Cask. On the way back, Luigi took off his hard hat.

. . .

"Oh! You got zee Red Goblet AND zee Green Goblet! Monsieurs, you are amazing!" Cork cried out.

"INCROYABLE!" Cask yelled out. "Zere eez nothing left for us to teach you. You 'ave mastered zee 'ammer techniques perfectly!"

"Well, monsieurs, you may enter Chucklehuck Woods in search of zee famous cola, Chuckola Reserve!" Cork allowed as he handed Mario a piece of paper.

Cork and Cask walked off, leaving the Bros and allowing them to enter Chucklehuck Woods.

With their new techniques, will they be able to traverse through the woods, and beat Rookie and Popple to the Chuckola Reserve? Only time could tell…

* * *

**Ah, that's another one of my favourite bosses in this game. I really enjoyed writing that boss. ^^**

**And if you're wondering about that flashback thing with Rookie…well, I can't say much. :P**


	15. Don't Go into the Woods at Night

Mario and Luigi: A Superstar Story

Chapter 15: Don't Go into the Woods At Night

"Hey, we probably have some new techniques in battle now that we have field techniques…" Mario remembered.

"Heh, that's true. Let's try them out later."

The Bros came out of the Chateau, and Luigi read a sign.

"West leads you to Chucklehuck Woods." Luigi read.

Following the sign's information, they headed west, and found a block on a high ledge which they high jumped up to, and ended up claiming a Mushroom. When they tried walking past a tree…one of the Chuckola Fruits (which looked slightly different) shook a bit, and dropped on Luigi. As if it was an instinct, Luigi put on his hardhat, and it bounced off his head. It landed on the floor, and uncurled to be a spiked ball with eyes (known as a Pestnut).

"So…let's try our new techniques!" Mario urged.

"OK…so, how do we do them?" Luigi asked.

"Chopper Bros is my new Bros Attack…" Mario said, keeping his eyes on the paper. "…so, simply just go with the flow, OK?"

"I guess so…"

Luigi put on his hard hat just in case…and Mario jumped behind him. He held his hammer back, and smacked him into the ground. Mario jumped at the same pace as the tunnelling Luigi, and the red plumber landed before the first Pestnut. Luigi got to Mario shortly after, and popped out of the ground, propelling Mario into the air, and he started spinning, striking the Pestnut several times like a chopper. The Pestnut cried out before breaking…to reveal a Beanie.

Mario sweat-dropped. He didn't see that coming at all. Luigi shrugged, and jumped over the incoming ball of spikes.

"Now…Mario, how about we try…" Luigi started as he was handed the paper from Mario. "…my move, Knockback Bros?"

"Sure." Mario answered, putting on his hard hat.

"So apparently, this one also says go with the flow." Luigi said after examining the paper. "So again, we have to improvise."

The Bros span into position (with Mario standing in front of Luigi), and the green plumber slammed his hammer on to Mario, turning him into Mini-Mario. He then readied his hammer like a golf club, and hit Mario, who became a ball shaped after being hit, and smashed into the Beanie they were targeting. Mario returned to normal size naturally, and ran back to Luigi.

"That was pretty awesome too." Mario admitted. "How did we even do that and Chopper Bros?"

"We went with the flow." Luigi answered. "Now, let's do these moves often so we can eventually think up a new way to do it!"

After performing most of Chopper Bros, Mario continuously spun his hammer into the lone Pestnut, heavily damaging its spiked shell. It cracked, and a startled Beanie was seen. The Bros started Knockback Bros, and the Beanie knew what it did to its friend, and starting running. Too bad Mario smashed into the Beanie, and destroyed it with a single blow.

They hopped along peacefully, only for Luigi to be attacked by a trio of Pestnuts.

"No wonder they're called Pestnuts…these things are real pests…" Mario groaned, walking into battle.

With a smash of his hammer, he damaged the first one, which started rolling off to the right (even though Mario was on the left). After a very short moment of waiting, it came and nearly hit Mario from behind.

"This is NOT Mario Bros!" Mario growled.

. . .

Somewhere, a wall was shattered.

. . .

"Did you hear that?" Luigi asked while still trying to get up. "I think someone broke the…you know."

Mario sweat-dropped as the green plumber took minor damage from another rolling Pestnut. Luigi got up, and then the two of them did Knockback Bros, destroying the first one's spikes. A Beanie rolled out, and tried to tackle Mario. Mario simply kicked the Beanie away, even defeating it. Mario then started up Chopper Bros, and chopped the Pestnut into tiny pieces. The other Pestnut growled, and ran over Mario for minor damage. Luigi prepared Knockback Bros, and had Mario ready to be hit.

Luigi put his finger in the air, and felt the wind direction. He did a few practice shots, and readied himself for the real deal. He pulled his hammer back like a golf club, and smacked the plumber. He went spinning into a ball shape and smashed into the remaining Pestnut. After breaking it, he spun out of ball form, and ran back to Luigi. The Beanies charged at the Bros, both being kicked away (and defeated) by Luigi.

After making a break for a path blocked by a rock, they quickly smashed it and-

Another trio of Pestnuts attacked. Mario groaned, and they did Chopper Bros yet again on the first Pestnut. One Pestnut slowly rolled into Mario, but was knocked away with his hammer, and the other rolled like the one from earlier to the right, and hit Luigi by magically popping up to the left of him and ramming into him from behind. Luigi hardly felt it because of how durable he was, and tag-teamed with Mario again to do Knockback Bros on the second Pestnut. It broke open, and both Beanies attacked Mario, who simply kicked them away too, defeating them.

"Man, I'm already sick of these things." Luigi moaned as he and Mario did Chopper Bros on the last Pestnut. With a jump from Luigi, the Beanie was finished off, and they claimed a mushroom and a couple of beans. Mario broke the rock with his head (with his hard hat on) just because it was original, and they pressed on through the newly opened path. Mario snagged a Mushroom, a jug of Syrup and several coins from the three blocks.

"Look, it's a pipe! Let's go in!" Mario said.

. . .

The duo walked through the pipe, ending up in the large junction Mario once entered which had 9 pipes labelled with the numbers 1 through 9. They came out of 5, and the only one open was 1 (which they unlocked by finding said pipe in Stardust Fields), and the one they entered through.

"So this was where that pipe from earlier led you, bro!" Luigi realized. "Anyway, we don't need to be here anymore, so let's just leave."

They did so, ran into the large area with all the enemies, and dodged them all, heading to the west this time, and dropping down a ledge to see a gate blocking them from continuing north.

"You know what to do, right?" Mario asked.

"Yep." Luigi answered, yet again putting on his hard hat.

Mario smashed him underground with his hammer, and Luigi burrowed beneath the gate to the other side. He leaped out, and hit a switch. The gate lowered into the ground, and the Bros were reunited. They then high jumped up to a high ledge and headed into the next area. The area they were now in had two hedges with a small gap between them…with a gate blocking it. There was a little hole in the hedges, with a rock blocking it, and there was metal flooring in a rectangle shape going from one hole to the hole on the other side.

On first glance, Mario headed to each of the rocks and smashed them. There were two holes. He called Luigi over, and told him to turn him into Mini-Mario. Luigi let him put his hard hat on, and hammered him. Mini-Mario squeezed through the hole, and hammered a switch. The gate lowered.

Mini-Mario came out, ran past Luigi, and into the other hedge square. He got a mushroom and…

"SYRUP!" Mario cheered, running out and getting hit by a hammer again to return to normal. He took off his hard hat, and they ran past where the gate used to be. They high-jumped up the ledge at the end of the path, and moved on.

"Poems of Love, Vol. 1…by Bubbles, Original Owner…Chateau de Chucklehuck…" Luigi read from a sign near a barrel and a weird green face with its eyes and mouth closed. "An empty barrel, so like the heart of a man. Tunnel from below."

Mario didn't bother thinking and whacked Luigi into the ground once his hard hat was on. Luigi tunnelled to the barrel, and popped out inside of it. His head popped the lid up, enabling him to see…somewhat. Mario helped him walk on to a switch (considering he thought this would help them move on) and the green face opened both its eyes and mouth instantly, and blasted a burst of fire at Luigi…who was still in his barrel, so it bounced off the barrel and hit the green face…setting it on fire. It made a face like it was screaming, and shrunk out of existence. Mario hammered the barrel, and it collapsed. Luigi crawled out of the wood, and they noticed a ledge had been raised when the face disappeared.

After performing the High Jump to get up the moved ledge and on to the one which led to the next area, they saw a purple Chuck Guy. Mario made a battle stance, and lunged at the Guy…and his friend who was walking by.

Both Chuck Guys were pounced on by Mario, each getting jumped on before they even got to hold their spears up. One of the Chuck Guys ran up to Mario, spun his spear like a fan, and dashed closer and swiped Mario's feet. The plumber fell to the ground, but jumped up early enough to counterattack the other Chuck Guy who was charging at him. Both Chuck Guys didn't like the look on the Bros' faces. The first Chuck Guy was smashed by a spinning hammer several times, and fell to the floor in defeat. The other was hit by an incoming red ball of pain which defeated the Chuck Guy, and he fell to the floor next to his comrade.

"Yeah! Level up!" Mario cheered, deciding to get more HP…and got +4HP.

"Me too!" Luigi cheered also, throwing his hammer in the air and choosing to get more DEF. He ended up getting +4 DEF. "Bro, are we lucky with this or what?"

Mario shrugged as Luigi caught his hammer. After jumping up some ledges…they entered an area with some blocks and beans. They got two Chuckle Beans, a Refreshing Herb, a Mushroom and some coins. After leaving this area, they hopped down the ledges and went to the left this time. A couple of Pestnuts fell out of a tree, and rolled at the Bros.

After smashing the first Pestnut with a spinning hammer attack, Mario landed on the ground, and a Golden Beanie was seen.

"IT'S A SHINY BEANIE!" Luigi cried.

"THERE'S ONLY A 3 IN 8192 CHANCE THAT YOU CAN SEE ONE!" Mario cried out.

The Beanie screamed, and ran away. Mario and Luigi were both disappointed. With a smack of a hammer from Luigi, Mario crashed into the second Pestnut. The Beanie attacked, but was stepped on and fainted.

The Bros hopped up some ledges, dodged a Pestnut, and smashed a rock. Following the unblocked path, it led to a dead end in a cave. They went back, dodging the Pestnut again and checked a piece of paper on the wall that appeared to be a map.

"You know, I would have expected that Shadow Thief guy to steal this map by now. I'm starting to think they're following us or something." Mario asked.

The tree nearby rustled.

"Nah…" Luigi assured.

Voices were heard from the tree nearby.

"OK, that clears all suspicion, then." Mario replied, walking on with Luigi.

In the next area, the first thing they saw was a barrel. They tried to spin-jump towards the high ledge it was on, but they ran out of spin power before they reached it, and landed near some Pestnuts, who attacked. Mario decided to finally use an item in battle, and slurped a Syrup (which he enjoyed much). The duo jumped over a Pestnut each, and Luigi drank a Syrup too.

"Now that are BP is high again, these guys won't stand a chance!" Mario assured, getting his hammer ready as Luigi put his hard hat on.

Performing Chopper Bros, Mario smashed away every bit of the Pestnut, revealing a Beanie. The remaining Pestnut rolled into Luigi, though he jumped over the spiked ball. Luigi then countered by smacking Mario into the Pestnut by performing Knockback Bros…revealing a Shiny Beanie.

"IT'S THE SHINY AGAIN!" Luigi cried as he defeated the normal Beanie.

The Shiny screamed at being caught again, and tried to flee…but was hammered by Mario. It fainted, and dropped a Mushroom, a Spike Badge and some coins.

Mario swapped his Bean Badge for Luigi's Pea Badge, and Luigi put on the Spike Badge they just got.

"Shiny Beanies give good drops." Mario commented.

"Yup." Luigi agreed.

They both ate a Mushroom each, and continued on…until Mario decided to duel a couple of Chuck Guys. Luigi jumped in the brawl just as Mario was tripped over by a quick movement by one of the Chuck Guys. He got off his butt and flung himself into the air, dodging the other Chuck Guy's swipe attack. He did Chopper Bros on the first one, defeating it in one blow. Then they performed Knockback Bros on the other.

I'm actually shocked we haven't failed as much as I thought we would." Mario admitted. "I mean, we're doing complicated tag-team attacks that require perfect balance, timing and skill. Either we're lucking out big-time, or we're just THAT good."

"You have a point. " Luigi agreed. "It's probably because we go with the flow or something."

Mario shrugged as they hopped up some ledges in the southern part of the area, and spin-jumped towards the ledge with the barrel. Mario hammered Luigi underground, and he tunnelled through the ground and popped out of the side of the ledge. He fell, and Mario jumped down. They got back up there by repeating what they did before.

"We really need some flashlights on these hard hats." Luigi groaned as he popped out where Mario was and made him fall off the edge…forcing Luigi to jump down.

. . .

Luigi popped out of the ground in a fashion which caused the barrel to fall off the edge and break. Mario sweat-dropped while Luigi grinned sheepishly.

. . .

Luigi popped out of the side of the ledge, knocking the sign over. Luigi forgot to read it, and read the sign on the floor. It was just another Poem of Love by Bubbles. Mario jumped down and they tried again.

. . .

Luigi popped out of the ground near a tree. Mario called out to him. Luigi waved, and tunnelled back where he came from. He popped out of the ground where the barrel was, finally doing it right. Led by Mario, Luigi stopped at the switch, and let Mario jumped on him and hit it. Another ledge raised out of the ground, and the Bros high-jumped up it, and up the next into the next area…


	16. The Great Talking Tree

Mario and Luigi: A Superstar Story

Chapter 16: The Great Talking Tree

The Bros jumped up to ledges in between some trees, and was now face to face with a giant tree stump with eyes, a mouth, a nose and was striped with blue and purple.

"I am Chuckleroot, protector of woods." Chuckleroot introduced. He then did a strange movement where the left third of him slid away from the Bros, and the right third of him slid towards the Bros. "Ahead is great tree: Mother Chuckalola." He then swapped the positions of the left and right thirds of him. "Only some may pass. Some who find all three kinds of Chuckola Fruit."

"…this is nearly creeping me out." Luigi mumbled to himself, no one hearing.

Chuckleroot slid back into place, and suddenly the middle third slid towards the Bros and turned white. "White Chuckola Fruit." He boomed, sliding the middle back into place. He then moved the left third of him towards the duo, and it turned red. "Red Chuckola Fruit." The left third slid back into place, and then the right third slid towards the Bros, turning purple. "Purple Chuckola Fruit." That part slid back into place.

Mario and Luigi just stared, wide-eyed at the sight of such movements.

"Find three types of Chuckola Fruit here. Then I let you pass." Chuckleroot boomed, causing two gates to the east and west to sink into the dirt.

The Bros walked away from the scene.

"That was…weird." Mario simply said.

Luigi nodded, and they jumped up the ledges in the left area. They passed where the gate used to be and headed on into the newly opened area. A tree a bit away starting rustling.

"Heh heh heh!" Popple cackled.

"Boss, why are we following them?" Rookie asked.

"Because they'll lead us straight to the Chuckola Reserve without us having to do anything!" Popple chortled. "When they get those three fruits, and the stump thing moves out of the way, we jump on in and steal the prize! I can almost smell the Chuckola Cola!"

"Boss, I forget." Rookie stated. "Why are we after the Chuckola Cola again?"

"YOU IDIOT!" Popple yelled at Rookie. "Don't you remember? I told you about 10 minutes ago! How could you forget so quickly?"

"Remember…" Rookie mumbled. "Forget…"

. . .

Rookie was now in that a castle of some sorts…confronted by two people. One of them seemed to be wearing green.

"-w-!"

Suddenly, he felt his mouth move suddenly.

"-e -e- -g-, -a- B-!"

Not this again…

"-e -r-e- -e-h b-k!"

He looked behind him, and saw a lovely princess in a beautiful pink dress trapped in a cage attached to the ceiling. He gaped, and stared at the two people again. Suddenly, his mouth started moving again.

"G-a- h- -a! -e-e-! -ro-, a-c-!"

"-o-e -n, -u-!"

"O-, -o!"

"-r-!"

"-e-'- - g-!"

"I -o-'- -t y- -w-!"

His mouth was now on auto-pilot. He couldn't stop it if he tried. He just closed his eyes and let the words come out.

"Y- -n'- -t- a -h-!"

. . .

"What was…that?" Rookie thought, eyes closed.. "Even though it was blurry, I remember seeing red and green…and pink. Was that another one of my memories? Ugh, it was too faint to make any any sense out of it…"

"Rookie!" Popple shouted, snapping his fingers in his face. "Snap out of it!"

Rookie opened his eyes. He was now in Chucklehuck Woods again.

"Yes, Boss?" Rookie asked, trying to redirect any suspicion.

"Good, now we have to wait for those guys to come back, so keep your eyes peeled for them when they start approaching this tree stump thing again, got it?"

"Yes, Boss!"

. . .

The Bros entered a new area with Chuck Guys and high ledges and blocks. Mario was about to try and reach the first block above a pretty high ledge, but a Chuck Guy threw a spear at him…which he whacked back with his hammer and attacked it with a jump. He bounced off of it, on to another Chuck Guy sleeping near him (who wok, and even landed on a Fuzzbush on to the ground next to Luigi.

The sleeping Chuck Guy (who was now awake) had some Syrup.

"WANT." Mario said instantly when he saw it.

"NEVER!" the Chuck Guy hissed.

They glared at each other…both wanting the Syrup.

One of the Chuck Guys spun their spear like a fan, and charged into Luigi, who was knocked over by the force…but didn't take much damage. The other Chuck Guy tried to sweep Mario off his feet, but he jumped over the attack and performed Chopper Bros on it.

The Fuzzbush walked closer to the Bros. Then it started shaking and Purple Fuzzies came out, only one hitting Luigi and exploding on him…but it still didn't do much damage. Luigi tag-teamed with Mario to do another Knockback Bros, defeating the Fuzzbush. The Chuck Guy growled and spun his spear like the others did. He charged at Luigi, but was kicked away when Luigi jumped. With a Chopper Bros, the Chuck Guy fell to the floor, and relinquished the Syrup. Mario grabbed it, and they high-jumped up a ledge to hit a block with a Refreshing Herb.

They passed a tree which had three Pestnuts. They all fell down, and through instinct, Mario and Luigi ran back…into a Chuck Guy.

The Chuck Guy whistled, and two Fuzzbushes came. It snickered, and spun its spear like the rest, and tried to sweep Mario off his feet like one of the others. Mario jumped over the attack…and teamed up with Luigi for Chopper Bros to take out the first Fuzzbush. The other started shaking, and Purple Fuzzies came out. Mario jumped over the first, Luigi over the second, Mario got hit by the third, and Luigi jumped over the fourth.

Luigi smacked Mario into the other Fuzzbush, defeating it. But he didn't see the Chuck Guy charging at him…and was knocked over again. Once he got up again, the Bros did Chopper Bros to end the battle.

"I'm getting tired of constantly using our moves…" Luigi groaned.

"Me too, but I'd like to come up with the Advanced Command soon. I think I nearly have one for both are moves." Mario replied.

"WAH!" Luigi cried after a Pestnut bonked him in the back.

Luigi fell on his butt, and kept trying to get up. Mario hammered the Pestnut who bonked him, and the other ran over Luigi, actually making him get up after being hit. Mario jumped over the other Pestnut…and they did Knockback Bros on it. Mario finished off the Beanie that came out with a counterattack, Then they did Chopper Bros on the other Pestnut…and when the Beanie came out, the duo did Knockback Bros to finish it off.

The Bros stopped at two paths going south. One was to the left of the Bros, the other was to the right.

"Which way?" Mario asked.

"Left."

They headed left. Seconds after they entered the new area, a little tree who just happened to be a girl came out of the ground.

"I am the granddaughter of the great Chuckleroot…" she said.

Luigi looked dumbstruck. Mario said nothing.

"This is my room. And may I say, how DARE you enter a woman's room uninvited?"

Mario kept his mouth shut. He had the perfect answer to that question…but didn't want to offend her anymore than he already accidentally did.

"Well…since you're here…" she started. "I'll share my secret with you…"

The tree walked to a dark circle in the grass with an X on it.

"Have you noticed the spots on the ground that look like this?" she asked.

"Yup." Mario answered.

"These are spots where beans lie buried in the ground." She explained. "If the green one digs beneath the earth, the beans will pop out of the spot on the ground. There are a total of five beans hidden here. Find all five and I will open the door up ahead."

This was when Luigi's dumbstruck state wore off. After hunting down all 5 X marked circles, they dug, and dug, and dug. Once they had collected all 5 Chuckle Beans, they showed them to Chuckleroot's great granddaughter.

"You found all five! You have done very well. If you find marks like these on the ground, dig immediately." She advised…and went back underground after hitting an underground switch which lowered the gate. "Good night."

Neither of them had anything to say. The Bros just trudged onwards to the south. After going around a corner of a hedge, they saw a Wiggler sticking its head into a hedge's hole.

"We should probably help him get in there." Mario suggested.

Mario jumped on the first body part (excluding the head, of course), making it go in…leaving three out. Luigi jumped on the second body part, making it go in too…leaving two still out. Mario jumped on the third body part, and the rest ran in.

"Do you think he got in all right?" Luigi asked.

"How about I check?" Mario suggested, putting on his hard hat.

"OK, then."

Luigi hammered Mario, and Mini-Mario peeked through the hole. He yelped and ran away from the hedge towards the left side. Suddenly, a steaming mad Wiggler popped out of the hole, a deep crimson colour. Luigi dived out of the way, and the second he got up, he made a break for it…but was stopped by Mario.

"Hello? We're looking for Chuckola Fruits. It could be in the most obnoxious position…such as behind that angry Wiggler. We're most likely going to have to battle that thing." Mario explained.

Luigi hammered Mario back to normal, and they lunged at the enraged creature.

The first thing the Wiggler did when it saw the Bros was charge at Luigi. It ran over him, and Luigi starting spitting out grass. Luigi chugged a Syrup both to restore his BP and to get the nasty taste of grass out of his mouth.

"I'm guessing we need to hit all four of those body parts to make it turn yellow so we can wail on him harder." Luigi assumed.

"OK, let's try that." Mario decided.

Mario performed Chopper Bros with Luigi to attack the first body part. After it was struck, the Wiggler yelped and the body part turned yellow.

"This feels like overkill…" Luigi muttered.

"Well, at least it lets us practice our moves and it also helps me figure out how the Action Commands would g-OW!" Mario yelped, getting trampled by Wiggler just like Luigi.

He dusted himself up, and Mario and Luigi did Knockback Bros on the second body part. It turned yellow as the Wiggler cried out in pain…maintaining its anger. The Wiggler trampled Mario again. Mario dusted himself off again, and did Chopper Bros on the third body part, turning it yellow, and following with a Knockback Bros on the fourth part. It groaned, and its head turned yellow…along with its face looking tired and the flower on the Wiggler's head drooping. Mario and Luigi started the mauling with Chopper Bros. Mario put all his power into smashing the Wiggler in the face as many times as he could…and it was so painful to the Wiggler that it fell to the floor…defeated in one blow…of several smaller blows. A Super Mushroom rolled into sight from under the Wiggler. Mario nabbed it, and stuffed it into the suitcase.

"Please tell me I'm not the only one who expected that battle to be harder?" Mario asked while he levelling up and obtaining +4POW.

"I expected that to me much harder. We just did a single Bros Attack, and it went down. I'm actually shocked." Luigi agreed as he levelled up too and got +3BP.

The Wiggler starting crying and ran off. Luigi hammered Mario into Mini-Mario. Mario ran through the hole, and collected a Red Chuckola Fruit from a tree.

"I got it!" Mario called out.

After he was hammered back to normal by Luigi, they backtracked until they passed Chuckleroot's daughter's room, and were back at the splitting paths. This time, they went right. Dodging the first Chuck Guy after dropping down several ledges, they were ambushed by the second Chuck Guy…who like one of the others, whistled for a couple of Fuzzbushes.

The Chuck Guy spun his spear and charged at Mario…who was flung into the air by the attack, and landed on his face. He dusted himself off for the third time tonight, and did Chopper Bros on the first Fuzzbush…defeating it. The other one was smart, and acted quickly. It walked to the Bros, and Purple Fuzzies came out and tried to make contact with the Bros…but failed. Then the brothers did Knockback Bros on the Fuzzbush…also defeating it. The Chuck Guy swept Luigi off his feet, and he fell on the back of his head. Mario helped his bro up, and they finished the Chuck Guy off with Chopper Bros.

They walked to a ledge, high-jumped up it, hopped up a slightly higher ledge, spin-jumped to a nearby ledge of the same height, and collected a Syrup from a block.

"That was definitely worth the trouble." Mario stated as they walked into a cave entrance nearby.

They traversed through the cave, collecting some coins, a Mushroom and some Syrup in the first area. They carried on through the cave, collecting a Mushroom from a block and reaching a stair of ledges. They started climbing up it…but then they noticed a block on a ledge to the right instead. They were just about high enough to spin-jump and land on it safely, so they did just that, and bashed a few coins out of it. They then carried on climbing up the stair of ledges to the left, went around a gap, and landed on two block platforms…Mario on one, and Luigi the other. Both platforms moved forward, and split up. After some fancy jumping, the blocks made it to the other side with the riders still on. The blocks docked on another metal floor, and the Bros jumped off it into the next area.

The Bros dropped down the ledge they were walking on…collecting a Mushroom and some coins from two blocks. Then the duo high-jumped back up the ledge they used to be on…and they walked a bit to find the Purple Chuckola Fruit. Luigi snagged it from the plant, and they noticed a shortcut to the south. They dropped down the ledge, and exited the cave.

"Hey, Mario?"

"Yeah?"

"Remember that dead end from earlier that was in a cave?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I think this is it."

Mario looked around…and nodded. It was the dead end from earlier. They then proceeded to backtrack to the area with Chuckleroot…

. . .

Mario and Luigi headed to the right path this time, and luckily managed to dodge and weave past all the enemies in the large area, into the next. In said next area, they dropped down a ledge and walked around the trees to a group of hedges…one with a sign next to a mini hole in front of a metal flooring.

"It says something about reuniting…nothing interesting." Luigi explained as he hammered Mario.

The little red plumber walked through the hole, and saw a big red switch, just like the previous ones. Mario hammered it, and a gate surrounded by metal flooring lowered. It happened to be the one near Luigi…who passed the newly opened path, to see another gate also surrounded by metal flooring. But there was a switch there, which Luigi hit.

This lowered the gate Mario was near, and he ran through and hit another switch next to a gate. This lowered another gate that was actually not surrounded by metal flooring. Luigi walked through, but there was no switch.

"Bro! I need your help!" Luigi called out.

In seconds, Mario was there…and was hammered back to normal. Mario glanced at the situation…and knew what to do. He hammered Luigi into the ground, and he tunnelled through the ground past the gate. Luigi popped out of the ground, and hit a switch he saw instantly. The gate on the other side of the hedge lowered.

"Do you hear that sound?" Mario asked as Luigi jumped on a spring thing and landed on the other side of the hedge.

"That ticking sound?"

"Yes, that sound. That usually means we gotta move. And I think the gate on the other side of the hedge lowered." Mario explained as they ran to the little hole in the ledge.

Luigi quickly hammered Mario and he made it through the gate JUST in time. There was the White Chuckola Fruit dangling on a plant, and Mario gently took it out.

"I got the last Chuckola Fruit!" Mario called out as he met up with Luigi again and returned himself to normal.

"Nice! Now, let's return to that creepy tree and show him these!"

Luigi shuddered and the duo backtracked yet again to the area with the creepy tree.


	17. Soda is Bad for You

Mario and Luigi: A Superstar Story

Chapter 17: Soda is Bad for You

"Psst, Boss, they got the fruit." Rookie whispered to Popple, who was sleeping.

"Hmm?" Popple mumbled, waking up.

"They got the fruit, Boss."

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME SOONER?!" Popple yelled, running to the Bros, with Rookie running after him.

Mario and Luigi threw all three Chuckola Fruits at Chuckleroot. The colours from before returned to their respective thirds of Chuckleroot.

"You found all three Chuckola Fruit types. I am amazed." Chuckleroot boomed. "Very well. You pass. Very well. Go."

Chuckleroot moved towards the Bros, so they could now get around him. Then Chuckleroot fell asleep. Suddenly, Rookie and Popple dashed into the scene, startling the Mario Bros.

"Yes! Ohhhh, YES! The path is open!" Rookie cheered as he did a little dance.

"We were stuck and couldn't get past here, see?" Popple elaborated. "Hiding here and waiting for a couple of schmoes was brilliant! All right, Rookie! Let's not waste any more time! We're golden, see?"

Popple and Rookie darted off past the tree. After seconds of silence, Mario ended it with a facepalm, and they chased after them.

Collecting a Mushroom, a 1-UP Mushroom, a Refreshing Herb and some coins on the way, Mario and Luigi hopped up some ledges at the end, had a Mushroom and some Syrup each, and entered a entrance in a tree of sorts.

In the distance, they could see a barrel and an old man. They could faintly hear the old man tell jokes as they approached.

"What do idiots drink? the old man asked. "So-duhhhh!"

The barrel made some movements…as if it was laughing or something.

"What do sodas call their dads?" the old man asked again. "Pop!"

The barrel made similar movements to earlier.

"A hippie's favourite soda?" the old man once again asked. "Granola Cola!"

For the third time, the barrel made weird movements. At this point, Mario and Luigi had reached the man.

"My name is…Bubbles."

"Did you build Chateau de Chucklehuck?" Luigi asked.

"Yes, I built Chateau de Chuckle, and I founded Chuckola Cola, Inc. And…I am the ultimate comedian, with the laughing and the chortling and the har har HAR!"

"So that's the Chuckola Reserve?" Mario asked.

"Yes, monsieurs. Indeed… What you see before you is the most legendary of sodas… The Chuckola Reserve… And, I am please to tell you, this Chuckola Reserve…is yours to enjoy!"

The Bros stayed silent.

"Har hee HAR! I have worked on Chuckola Reserve for 1000 years… Telling it joke after joke, so it would mature, and then mature some more, and then yet more… Until at last the greatest soda of all would be completed with the fizz and the tastiness. Because it is a soda of such high calibre and repute, rude guests meet a fate such as this… Un! Deux! Trois!"

Rookie and Popple were lowered on a rope…they seemed to be stuck in barrels, with only their heads sticking out. Mario and Luigi gaped at the sudden sight of it.

"Th-That's no ordinary soda, see?" Popple yelled, making the barrel he was stuck in shake. "We can't stand up to such a beverage!"

"Gahhhhh!" Rookie growled, making his barrel shake too…

"The great Chuckola Reserve is a thing to savor, with the flavor and tang and yum in the belly!" Bubbles said.

Suddenly, the barrel and drink changed shape, and the drink was now in a larger, yet slightly different version of Bubbles. The barrel was now a shield, and it suddenly formed a sword out of itself. It spun, and knocked Rookie and Popple out of sight, and as it did that, Bubbles did a slow-motion leap into the air. Luigi had nothing to say about the situation…it was just too weird.

"Looks like that drink…" Mario paused, putting on some shades. "…has gone sour!

"Ahhh… It is wonderful… So wonderful…" Bubbles said softly. "The great soda shines…"

"However!" Bubbles dropped out of his slow-motion jump. "That was not the only hidden soda power that my jokes have bred over these 1000 years! Now I insist you fully experience the texture, taste and aroma of Chuckola Reserve Bon appetite!"

The Chuckolator (which was its name) growled and attacked.

It slashed at the ground, producing a little snail wave of soda which shot towards Luigi, who hammered it into the ground at the last possible moment. The Chuckolator did the same attack at Mario…who also hammered it into the ground.

"Looks like I lost that book back in the Castle Sewers." Luigi mumbled after checking his overalls. "Ah, well."

"So, we fought a Spike-like creature, a dragon, a queen, and now we're fighting soda?" Mario recounted.

"When you say it like that…it makes our adventure so seem weird."

"Well, it is weird."

The Chuckolator growled. Mario nodded to Luigi, and they performed Chopper Bros. The second they even started the move, the Chuckolator knew they were performing a deadly attack of sorts, so he held the barrel it was in to block the attack…which worked, but the barrel was knocked away. The Chuckolator then replaced the shield with a soda gun made out of itself.

Luigi led Knockback Bros, and struck the Chuckolator hard. It made an angry face, and blasted both Mario and Luigi with a spurt of the soda gun. In retaliation, both of them jumped on the Chuckolator…but it hardly effected it. The Chuckolator made a sound which sounded like a snicker, and blasted both Bros again, shooting Luigi twice this time.

"Jumps don't work…and I'm not too confident about what using our Hammers will do either. Let's just use our Bros Attacks." Mario deduced, then using Chopper Bros.

It struck the Chuckolator, and it tried to retaliate with a shot or a slash, but was too slow as Mario in a ball shape smashed it in the face. The Chuckolator got serious, and blasted Luigi with its soda gun. Then it slashed at the ground and the fast moving soda snail was zooming at him…which he hammered and the soda dispersed as it passed by his face, grabbing Mario's attention and causing him to get shot (with soda).

After another round of Chopper Bros and Knockback Bros, the Chuckolator shrunk into a kind of cake. Bubbles spun into the scene, stopped before his creation, and bent down.

"Do bats like baseball?"

The Chuckolator made a bubbling sound, and it seemed to be recovering health as it grew back to its normal size and sent a soda snail at Luigi, who was knocked over and blasted. As he got up, the Chuckolator moved to Mario, and slashed a soda snail at Mario. It struck him in the face, and knocked him over…but he quickly got up, and hammered the soda creature, managing to deal some damage.

"Oh! Hammers DO work!" Mario gasped.

Luigi hammered Mario into his mini form, and smacked him into the Chuckolator. This made Bubbles spin into the scene again, and bend down towards the giant soda monster.

"What do sheep count to sleep?"

The Chuckolator bubbled in laughter again, recovering more HP. Then it bounced towards Mario, and tried to bash him…but was smashed, causing it to bounce away.

"Do you know what time it is?" Luigi asked, winking.

Mario put on some shades, and approached the Chuckolator. He took out his hammer and held it in the air. He spun around, and covered his face with the head of his weapon.

"It's…" Mario started.

Mario jumped into the air, did a backwards flip, and smashed through the Chuckolator. It exploded up into the air in a rush of liquid, and the barrel that was knocked away (which was conveniently sitting upright, and most of the soda landed in the barrel again.

"...HAMMER TIME!" Mario finished. "Though that felt really corny. If I ever do that again, it's gonna need some serious revision..."

Mario and Luigi high-fived and both reached Level 14, Mario getting a +4BP bonus and Luigi getting a +4HP bonus.

"NOOOOOOO!" Bubbles cried. "B-But the jokes! The puns! The humor I've saved up over the last 1000 years!"

Bubbles bounced on the ground, creating cracks in the floor. Mario and Luigi made a mad dash for the barrel of soda, but Bubbles broke the floor, creating a square hole by where he just landed. Mario, Luigi and the soda fell into the newly created hole.

"Au revoir!" Bubbles yelled.

. . .

The barrel landed first, in the lower part of an underground kind of area in front of a waterfall. Mario fell, and landed in the barrel, making it tip over. The collision knocked Mario out.

In the higher part of the underground area, Luigi landed on his face. He got up, and realized Mario was probably in the barrel. Luigi didn't have a chance of clearing the jump to where Mario was, so he knew he had to go the long way.

Luigi ran across the bridge, broke any hammers in his way, and dodged all the Chuck Guys. He wasn't going to chance fighting alone, so he didn't. Luigi saw a block, and ran over to it…bashing it and grabbing a Mushroom.

He moved into the next area, and collected several coins from a few blocks. After walking a bit and noticing a barrel rolling back and forth. He approached it, and looked into it. Luigi saw a very stuffed Mario in the barrel, with very small pools of the Chuckola Reserve.

"I'm gonna try something to get us out of this cave. By the way, I drank all of it so it wouldn't mix with the water. Kinda weird…but yeah." Mario explained in the barrel.

The barrel rolled into the water, and Luigi figured out Mario's plan and jumped on to the barrel. The current caught the barrel, and it was swept out of the cave as Luigi waved his hat in the air. Once they were out of the cave, Luigi started running on the barrel to help it pick up speed, and it rolled around a turn, reaching Beanbean Castle Town. Luigi sat on the barrel, and when it approached the bridge (causing Luigi to see the guards and wave his hat to get their attention), the barrel turned north just before it crashed into it. The barrel was swept north, and crashed into part of the stairs, flinging the Bros on to the stair before the entrance of the castle and breaking the barrel.

"Hmmm! Well, look at this! A very Mario-esque fellow and a Loo…uh, some other guy!" one of the Bean Guards pointed out.

Luigi leaped back up, and explained the situation to them, about the Chuckola Reserve, the Belly Blech worm, Queen Bean, how Mario was now chubby, their hole scuffle with the Chuckolator and anything else that needed to be told.

"Whaaaaaaat?!" the other Bean Guard gasped.

"What is it?" the first Bean Guard asked.

"Mario's gut is filled to the brim with Chuckola Reserve? It's sloshing around his insides?! Gross!" the second Bean Guard cried out.

"Th-That's terrible! And sort of disgusting! We must contact Lady Lima immediately!"

"Hmm! By the way… What's Chuckola Reserve?"

"Shh! I have no idea…"

Luigi fell to the floor.

. . .

Mario was stood up behind Queen Bean, who was on the floor groaning and grabbing her belly while in deep sleep.

"Grooh… Groohoo… Gruuurgh…" Queen Bean moaned.

"Queen Bean has been in a deep sleep, just as you see her now." Lady Lima explained. "Did you truly obtain some of the legendary Chuckola Reserve?"

Luigi jumped on Mario (who still had the Chuckola Reserve sloshing about) and the soda spurted out of his mouth into Queen Bean's mouth. Lady Lima winced as Luigi sweat-dropped.

"BLAAARF!" Queen Bean abruptly exclaimed, making the Castle rumble a bit.

Suddenly, Queen Bean blasted out a worm who slightly resembled Cackletta. This startled Luigi, and he jumped to the corner to the right of Queen Bean's throne and ducked in the corner.

"There's the Belly Blech worm!" Lady Lima cried, pointing to add emphasis.

The worm bounced off, and Queen Bean reverted to normal.

She looked generally the same, but was more cheerful and less menacing. She finally looked like the queen the townsfolk knew and loved again.

"EEYAH HEH HEH!" she chuckled as Luigi returned to where he was earlier.

"Ohhhh! Success! A truly repugnant, yet truly tremendous success!" Lady Lima clapped. "Queen Bean has returned!"

Lady Lima walked to her throne, turned round to the people there, and jumped. On impact, she made everyone hop into the air like they were hit with a POW Block.

"Ahh… That's the hardest I've laughed in a long, long time. Well done, Lady Lima!" Queen Bean praised.

"No, Your Highness, it is not I, but rather the Mario Bros whom you must thank." Lady Lima stated.

The Bros walked before Queen Bean, and explained their whole situation to her.

"Hmm… So, Cacklettta has stolen Princess Peach's voice and the Beanstar…" Lady Lima recounted after listening to their story."

"It was my fault…" Lady Lima sobbed, wiping her eyes with a tissue she pulled out of nowhere.

"Nonsense." Queen Bean boomed. "But why would Cackletta steal the Beanstar and Princess Peach's voice in the first place?"

"Huh?" Mario and Luigi asked in unison.

"The Beanstar is the protector of this land, and it has the power to grant any and all desires…" Queen Bean started to deduce. "To prevent such power from being used for evil, the Beanstar was cast into a deep sleep… It is said that a voice of great beauty is required to wake the Beanstar from its slumber. It must be the voice of a pure and noble soul…In this day and age, Princess Peach is the only one who possesses such a voice. So…the reason Cackletta stole Princess Peach's voice… Aha! She must plan to awaken the Beanstar and fulfil all of her desires!"

"And there's no mistaking her one true desire: to rule the world!" Lady Lima added.

"EEYAH HEH HEH!" Queen Bean chuckled again.

"Oh no…" Luigi trailed. "This could be bad for us…"

"Fear not! I foresaw this desire of hers long, long ago!" Queen Bean assured. "We are prepared!"

"Well, it's not THAT hard to predict a witch wanting to take over the world, but eh, I wouldn't have guessed anyway." Mario commented. "By the way, how are we prepared, anyway?"

"Card for card, we have a better hand than she!" Lady Lima continued, not hearing Mario.

"But what's the-"

"Your Highness!" a Bean Guard who had run in called, cutting Mario off. "Prince Peasley has arrived!"

"Perfect timing! Master Mario! Master Luigi! Head out to meet Prince Peasley!" Queen Bean ordered, jumping into the air and making everyone bounce up.

Luigi did an cheer, then a dance, and rocketed off. Mario put on some shades, and shrugged, walking off too. Two rooms south, Mario reached Luigi, who was waving with his hat, trying to get Prince Peasley, who was standing a bit south near Beanbean Castle's exit. Mario simply jumped, and the sudden action made Prince Peasley dazzle the area with his awesomeness…not effecting Mario in the slightest. Luigi however, just cheered, and after the flash faded, they hopped down the ledge and approached him.

"Cheers to Red and Greenie!" Peasley welcomed. "Thank you for your help earlier! Yes, thanks to you, my secret mission is about to pay off!"

"What mission?" the Bros asked at the same time, then giving each other a look.

"Ah heh heh heh heh heh!" the Prince laughed, then dazzling the screen again, once again not effecting Mario, who smirked.

"Prince Peasley! Excellent work on your mission!" Queen Bean praised after walking into the room with Lady Lima. "Have you learned the whereabouts of Cackletta?"

"Heh heh heh!" Peasley chuckled. "Thanks to you…ABSOLUTELY!"

This startled the Bros, making them jump and freeze on a funny face.

"Southeast of this castle is Woohoo Hooniversity, out local research institution." Prince Peasley stated. "Cackletta and her underlings have just snuck in there: into Woohoo Hooniversity!"

"Yes, of course! Woohoo Hooniversity is the perfect place to awaken the Beanstar!" Queen Bean realized.

"I intend to march into Woohoo Hooniversity right this instant!" Prince Peasley decided. "May we meet again!"

He dazzled the screen one last time before walking off.

"Master Mario! Master Luigi! This may be your chance to recover Princess Peach's voice!" Queen Bean shouted. "I shall inform the locals that you are to be allowed passage on the road to Woohoo University!"

She left the Bros, and sat in her throne.

"EEYAH HEH HEH!" Queen Bean chuckled.

"Why didn't you tell them?" Lady Lima asked.

"It didn't seem like a good time…and she wasn't ready yet. When they get back, that's when we'll explain everything." Queen Bean explained.

"Yes, Your Highness." Lady Lima bowed.

* * *

**I love how I happen to be sipping a soda of sorts as I'm reading over this chapter. ^^**

**And I am again as I finally finish Mario's "It's..." because it was never finished. Really, it's all right to point out mistakes like these which I make. I'd be grateful for it, even. ^^**


	18. Pictures, Pets and Professors

**This turned out longer than I expected...which is good, because I was worried it would be short.**

* * *

Mario and Luigi: A Superstar Story

Chapter 18: Pictures, Pets and Professors

The Bros were at the gate of Beanbean Castle.

"Since this may be our showdown with Cackletta, what do you say we go prepare ourselves for such a major battle?" Luigi asked.

"Yeah…maybe we could go into town for a while and prepare." Mario agreed.

"Before that…how about we see what's over there?" Luigi asked, pointing to his right.

Mario and Luigi strolled to the area Luigi was talking about, and the former noticed a couple of holes his Mini form was small enough to jump and get into. Mario signalled for Luigi to hammer him, and the green plumber did so. Mini-Mario jumped into the hole he could reach, and was now in a hedge maze.

He took the first left, and continued around the corner, passing a turn to the right. He turned at the corner that followed, reaching another corner where he turned again, and reaching a third, where he once again turned. Mario took a left eventually, and once he had the choice, took another left (which was like taking a right from the entrance). The plumber went around a corner, then another, and kept going north. He went around yet another corner, soon reaching a bunch of places for him to turn right. Mario took the first right turn, going around 7 corners before going around another, to see the exit right there.

He was behind a giant wall in Beanbean Castle now, and realized there may be hidden blocks here. Mario leaped about, discovering a total of five hidden blocks, all of which having a Hoo Bean. Figuring there was nothing else here, he entered the hedge maze again through another way, turning as soon as he entered it to get around a couple of corners. Then it was a simple dash to the next two corners, after which going around, he came out of the higher hole in the wall.

"What did you find?"

"Hoo Beans in invisible blocks."

"Nice!" Luigi cheered as they high-jumped back up the ledge and entered the house (which had a pipe sign on it) they passed. Inside, there were four pipes staring at them in a line, the third being green.

The Bros entered the first, coming out of the fourth, and headed back into the fourth to come out of the first. Mario walked towards the second.

"Bro, I see something in there. Maybe it's blocked?" Luigi pointed out, making Mario enter the green one instead.

Once again, they were in that pipe junction place, seeing only the pipes with 1 and 5 above them opened up. They came out of Pipe 3. Taking note of that, they exited the pipe junction through the way they came, and left the house.

"Before we start shopping and doing side-quests, we should probably practice our Bros Moves." Mario said.

"How come?"

"Well, if we're practicing them on enemies, they're bound to drop money, which could be used for badges and clothes…not to mention we'll be getting "

"You have a point there, bro. Let's do it."

. . .

After taking down a swarm of Sharpeas…

"Hmm…" Mario thought. "I got it!"

"What did you get?"

"I've figured out how we could do Chopper Bros in a whole new way!"

"How?"

"Just follow my lead when we do it."

. . .

After taking down another swarm…

"Hmm…" Mario thought once again. "I got it! Again!"

"What?"

"I've now figured out another way to do Knockback Bros too!"

"Awesome! How?"

"Again, follow my lead when we do it."

. . .

Luigi levelled up to Level 15, and got +4 STACHE.

. . .

Mario levelled up to Level 15, and got +4 POW.

. . .

Mario and Luigi were now in North-East Beanbean, where a gate was in their way. Luigi gave his brother a look, and Mario nodded…then proceeded to smash a hammer on Luigi's head, driving him into the ground and letting him tunnel under the gate to the other side to be able to hammer a red switch on a wall straight ahead.

The gate lowered, and the team was reunited, then high-jumping up a ledge and walking north. A lone green pipe was in their sight…and the duo walked into it.

They came out of Pipe 2. Now Pipes 1, 2, 3 and 5 were open.

"Another pipe opened up. 5 to go!" Luigi recounted as they exited. "Maybe we can find some more pipes around here?"

From their position, they headed as south as they could, getting into some short scraps with enemies, and soon reaching a pipe.

"That was TOO easy…" Mario mumbled as they walked into it. "Hmm…this is Pipe 4. We only need to find four more now."

"Can we go back to Castle Town now…?

"Fine…"

They left the pipe junction area through Pipe 3.

. . .

They walked to the shop.

"As you can see, this is a fashion house frequented by celebrities of all kinds! Classy all the way!" the shopkeeper pointed out. "But I offer prices you'd never expect from a high-class boutique! So, uh, what do you want to do?"

"Uh…can I have that Counter Badge?" Luigi handed over 140 coins.

"Your mustaches never fail to impress me! 6% off!" the shopkeeper exclaimed handing back 8 coins.

"And I'm getting those Hard Pants." Mario decided as he handed over 130 coins.

"And that gets a 12% discount!" the shopkeeper exclaimed again, returning 15 of the coins.

"OK, we're done here. Let's go." Mario said.

. . .

After Mario changed into his Hard Pants and Luigi put on his Counter Badge, they started to walk around and talk to people. The saw an old Bean, and walked to him to converse.

"I am perhaps this town's greatest intellect." He started. "At present, it is the ancient Soybean civilization that has captured my focus and attention. Would you like to hear my report on this great civilization of yore?"

"Uh…maybe?" Luigi answered, yawning. He glanced at Mario, and he was sleeping on Luigi's leg. With a shrug he forced himself to listen.

"The ancient Soybean civilization… The age of flying spin-beans, tunnelling mole-beans, and fast-moving dash-beans…" He said. "Yes, all evidence points to this advanced bean civilization once gracing this land… And as for the whereabouts of the Beanstones, the heretofore hidden treasures of the Soybeans… I have perhaps stumbled across some astounding facts related to this matter. I theorize this: That perhaps the Beanstones were indeed buried and still rest beneath this very town! I desire so greatly to dig this town down to its foundations…and even deeper if I must! Yet how I am to even guess where to begin digging? Where? The mind recoils at the thought! I ask you this: how happy would I be if the two of you were to dig up these artifacts for me? Quite happy indeed! Of course, I could perhaps reward you. Can you find the jewels of the Soybean civilization, the Beanstones?"

Luigi was asleep…but Mario slowly opened his eyes.

"Huh?"

"Can you find the jewels of the Soybean civilization, the Beanstones?" the old Bean repeated.

"Oh, yeah, sure." Mario answered, unaware of what he was getting into.

"Fascinating! You are bold specimens!" he exclaimed. "I theorize that there are actually 10 Beanstones waiting to be unearthed. Yes, indeed. If you recover all 10 for me, perhaps I might reward you... By the by, my theory suggests the ancient Soybeans were, perhaps, rather on the short side… Perhaps such information may provide you a clue of some sort in your Beanstone search…"

Mario gave Luigi (who was now sleeping on the floor) a soft kick, and he slowly woke up from his sleep.

"I think I know how to do this." Mario stated. "Whack me so I'm on the short side."

Luigi whacked Mario…and he was now small.

"OK, follow me, I'm going to scan this ground for the Beanstones." Mario requested.

Mario walked around the west side of Beanbean Castle Town, and suddenly saw something in the ground near one of the arcs. Mario pointed at where it as, and hammered Luigi into the ground, and he popped up with a blue gem…which was a Beanstone.

On the west side of one of the houses near the exit bridge, another Beanstone was retrieved.

Near the west side of the Gear Shop, another Beanstone was found.

Close to the location of the third Beanstone but on a lower ledge instead, the fourth Beanstone was found.

Around the entrance of the Gear Shop, the fifth Beanstone was found.

"I'm guessing the other five Beanstones are on the other half of this town." Mario assumed, leading Luigi to the east side.

They entered…and soon left a house that apparently gave information to people for a price. They dropped down into a lower ledge nearby and searched it, finding the sixth Beanstone.

After a bit more searching, the Bros searched one of the higher ledges in the middle of the south part of the town….finding a Beanstone.

Climbing up a couple of high ledges to the north, they found their eighth Beanstone near a Bean.

Near the left entrance of the biggest house in the east part of town, they found Beanstone number nine.

Dropping down from the high ledge they were just on, near the steps was the final Beanstone…which was collected.

. . .

"OHHHHH!" the old Bean gasped. "You have found all 10 of the Soybeans' sparkling Beanstones! With this evidence, I can at last announce my hypothesis…Perhaps! Perhaps I should reward you for your endeavours! I believe that you will accept this reward I promised you!"

The old Bean handed Mario a badge that was made out of red and green rock. The two colours mixed like a whirlpool in the centre.

"Thanks!" Mario thanked, and they walked off towards the east area after he put on the badge.

"Yo yo yo-", a Bean started.

"Just get to the point." Mario interrupted firmly.

"My 5 Beanlets have disappeared!" he said. "Can you find them?"

"Oh, you mean this?" Luigi asked, walking towards Mario and the Bean, handing the Bean a Beanlet. "This one was on a roof."

The bean nodded, and sent the Bros off to look for the others.

In the north-east part of the east area, there was a green round thing cowering in the corner. Mario slowly approached it, and grabbed the creature.

"You got a thing!" Luigi cheered.

The Bros ran back into the west area, and found one on a roof nearby. They high-jumped on to the roof, and grabbed the Beanlet.

To the west, another Beanlet was seen on another roof. Once they walked towards the house and high-jumped on to the roof, they managed to get the fourth Beanlet.

"These things must LOVE roofs..." Mario trailed.

"Look! That Beanlet over there is about to fall!" Luigi cried.

Mario and Luigi darted to the north-west area of town, high-jumped up the roof there, and Mario lunged for the creature. The Beanlet started to fall off the roof, and Mario slid over the same part, falling with the Beanlet. He barely reached it, and held it tight. Just before he hit the ground, Luigi pulled him back up, and both Mario and the Beanlet were unscathed.

. . .

"Yo! My poor little Beanlet buddies!" the Bean jumped for joy. "You got 'em all back for me! Yo, many thanks, Bros! I'm practically cryin', I'm so relieved these dudelets are safe! Anyway, right ON, Bros! Here's the reward I promised you!"

The Bean handed Luigi a Golden Mushroom.

"Thanks!" Luigi thanked him, and they walked off.

Mario and Luigi soon reached an area with a photographer Bean. Luigi gave Mario a look as he bashed a block (getting some coins out of it) and Mario nodded.

"Oh! Yes! Yes! You are PERFECT! How about a picture!" the photographer Bean exclaimed once he saw Luigi. "Right! Oh, yeah! Let's do it! I'll snap a great picture of you! Well? Want a picture taken?"

Luigi jumped for joy at the knowledge he'd be able to retake his photo.

"OK. One picture is 100 coins."

"What?" Mario asked.

"One picture is 100 coins."

"OK Luigi, we're going."

"Whaaaat? Noooo? You don't want your picture taken? Not at all? Oh! The life of an artist is so hard sometimes! OK… How about for… 50 coins? 50 coins? OK?"

"Good." Mario stated, nodding his head as he paid 50 coins.

"Oh, yes! Yes! I'm taking it! OK! Stand there on that mat! C'mon, now!"

Luigi stood on the mat.

"All righty! Are you ready?" the Bean asked. Luigi nodded and jumped on the spot. "Stand still! Don't go doing some silly pose! All righty! Are you ready?"

Luigi nodded…then started to feel his nose itch. He raised his right hand to scratch his nose…

"Say CHEEP CHEEP!"

. . .

Luigi looked at his photo. He was scratching his nose…

Mario led Luigi back into the main town area, and they went through the rest of the houses, and hit the blocks inside for the items, which were a Super Mushroom, 2 Hoo Beans, and a jug of Syrup.

"What IS Woohoo Hooniversity anyway?" Mario asked a Bean.

"Woohoo Hooniversity is the center of all scientific research in the Beanbean Kingdom. Apparently it's southeast of the town… Not that I've been there. I'd love to study up and become a researcher at Woohoo Hooniversity!"

"Oh…thanks."

The Bros walked back to the west area.

"Hey, that place is open! Let's check it out!" Luigi pointed at a cafe. After some jumping, they made it inside, and talked to the Bean at the desk.

"Hey! This is the famed Starbeans Café that everyone's abuzz about! Got any complaints? Compliments? Now, you already know about our special StarB System, right?"

"Uh…yeah, we do." Mario said, trying to avoid anymore tutorials or explanations.

"Righto! Then show me the beans you've collected!"

Mario and Luigi showed him his 57 Woo Beans, 7 Hoo Beans, 35 Chuckle Beans and 35 Hee Beans, and looked at the recipes for the blends.

"Um, can I have a Woohoo Blend?" Luigi asked, giving the Bean at the desk 25 Woo Beans.

The beans were poured into a pump, crushed into juice, and a green liquid came out of the other side into a cup.

"One Woohoo Blend, ready to go!"

Luigi took the cup, and the moment he did, the lights went out, making Luigi cry out in shock.

"Whoa! A power outage?" the Bean at the desk gasped. "Oh, man… I've got a bad feeling about this.

Just then, an orange ghost appeared near a table for a brief moment, and when the Bros looked, it was gone. Luigi then felt something approaching him…when he looked around, he met eye to eyes with an orange ghost. He jumped into the air, and ran to a table, diving underneath it. The ghost followed him there. Luigi cried out, and ran to a corner near the desk. The ghost followed him there.

"Looks like the aroma of your new drink has drawn out all the ghosts in the place." A voice said, walking in on the scene with a vacuum cleaner.

"Oh! I was wondering who it could be! If it isn't the beloved owner of our café… Professor E. Gadd!" the Bean behind the desk said.

E Gadd approached the ghost, and sucked it in with the vacuum cleaner. Mario was startled by this.

. . .

Now that the lights were back on, everything was normal again.

"Welcome to my Starbeans Café! Seeing you two… This is a most unexpected chance meeting!" Professor E. Gadd welcomed.

"Hey! You guys know the owner?! That blending machine is our owner's latest invention."

"Have you tried the drinks made by my latest invention: the wondrous Beanbean Machine? Its stimulating flavor will put a spicy tingling in your cheeks. …Yes, quite a tingling, indeed." E Gadd trailed, making Mario hold up his Woohoo Blend in the air. "Hmm… The rich, aromatic fragrance of that drink… I sense that it's a drink that even I haven't partaken of… May… May I have a drink?"

"Sure!" Luigi answered, handing E Gadd his drink for a sip.

E Gadd tasted it, and made a face which made it seem like he loved it.

"Hmm… A delicately bitter flavor, but one that makes me crave more. This stuff gives me the energy to push my ghost research into a new dimension!" E Gadd reviewed. "Thanks for that sampling. Here's a little something I invented in my spare time. Maybe it'll aid you."

Professor E. Gadd handed Mario a wallet…with a medal in it.

"Well, I hope you will continue to frequent my fine café. I'm always happy to have friends partake of the fine flavours produced by my Beanbean Machine." E Gadd said, leaving the café after returning Luigi's drink.

"Do you want to continue with the StarB System?" the Bean at the desk asked.

"Can I have a Chuckle Blend?" Mario asked, giving the Bean at the desk 25 Chuckle Beans.

The beans were poured into a pump, crushed into juice, and a red liquid came out of the other side into a cup. The Bean at the desk handed Mario his Chuckle Blend.

"One Chuckle Blend, ready to go!"

Professor E. Gadd came running back in.

"Oooh, mercy! Yet another fragrantly rich aroma!"

"Oh! Professor Gadd! We just now added this new drink to our menu! What great timing on your part!"

"It's not timing that brought me here. No sirree! The scent of that new drink drew me in. Yep! From over the hills and across the sea, I came walking."

"Wow! That's some nose you've got!"

"Now then, might I have a quick sampling of this new drink?" E Gadd asked, getting handed the drink by Mario, then sipping it. "…"

"…How does it taste?"

"…Delicious!" E Gadd yelled out, hopping in the air. "This may be the next big drink! You've brewed well! Thanks for that sampling. Here's a little something I invented in my spare time. Maybe it'll aid you."

The Professor handed Luigi a yellow ring and Mario his drink back.

"Hmm! Hmm… Oh… Oog… All of a sudden I have a bad tummy-ache…Perhaps this drink I just drank is the cause of this ache…Further proof that every rose has its thorn…"

"Maybe you just drank too much?"

"Oooooh… Ohh… Umm… Uh-oh. WHERE'S THE RESTROOM?!"

"Boss! You never built any toilets in this place!

"Heeeeeeeeeee!" E Gadd cried out, panicking as Luigi ran over to grab the vacuum cleaner from earlier, and pointed it at the Professor. "Oh! Th-That's my Poltergust 3000! L-Luigi! Are you planning on being the janitor here?!"

Mario was just watching the scene, not getting involved, not making any sounds…until Luigi starting sucking E Gadd in, where he was startled.

"Heeeeeeeeeee!"

. . .

"Do you want to continue with the Star B System?"

"Nah."

"Oh! I'm so sad!"

Mario took out the medal from the wallet, and put it on.

"I'm guessing that ring doubles EXP gained under certain circumstances, and the medal nets us double coins." Mario guessed, noming on a Mushroom and slurping two jugs of Syrup.

"Eh, OK." Luigi replied, finishing a Mushroom and washing it down with some Syrup.

Leaving the café, they reach the east bridge leading out of town…and once out of town, headed south, dodging the enemies, and soon reaching some Bean Guards. They nodded, and the Bros kept going south. Luigi then took the chance to drink his Woohoo Blend, feeling stronger, and gaining more HP (and eating another Mushroom out of hunger). Mario followed suit, and drank the Chuckle Blend…feeling faster, and gaining more Speed.

Mario pounced a Troopea, and struck it and its friend with his foot. Mario then struck the first one again, knocking it out. The lone remaining Troopea spat into the air, and the spit landed on itself, healing himself.

"Gross…" Luigi shuddered as he leaped on it, then watched it get finished off by Mario.

After taking down 4 more Troopeas, and 2 more Parabeanies, Mario and Luigi made it into the next section. They were on a shore, and went north to hit two blocks, getting a jug of Syrup and some coins. Running past a statue sign, they reached two coin blocks which they bashed the coins out of, and climbed up several steps, reaching Woohoo Hooniversity.

"We're taking down Cackletta NOW. You ready bro?"

Luigi nodded, and they walked inside the building...ready for anything...


	19. Back to School

Mario and Luigi - A Superstar Story

Chapter 19: Back to School

Shouts of "EEEEEEEEEK!" and "Run!" were heard once Mario and Luigi began walking into Woohoo Hooniversity, and many of the Beans there fled in a stampede. Mario dived to the right wall for cover, Luigi lunged to the left. Soon, the stampede subsided, and once the last Bean there got up from falling over, they kept running out. Once they didn't hear or see anymore stampeding Beans, they walked back into the passage.

"Well, I guess that proves Cackletta is here…seeing as they're all fleeing." Mario pointed out.

"Yuuup, and there's most likely no turning back now..." Luigi sighed as they walked through the passage, reaching a knocked out Bean on the floor.

"Ca-Cackletta and her crew snuck into the Hooniversity!" he groaned. "They transformed all of the Hooniversity's professors into monsters…"

Seconds after he finished that last line, he began to shake.

"Ugh… Ughhhh…" he groaned, suddenly morphing into a Laser Snifit, which startled the Bros.

The Laser Snifit shot a laser ring at Mario, and he jumped through it flawlessly. Then, with a single jump, he knocked out the Laser Snifit, and it fell to the floor, and crawled away…

"That was too easy." Luigi commented as they walked into a new section, and collected a jug of Syrup and a Super Mushroom after high-jumping up a ledge in the north-west corner.

Mario led Luigi into a room to the north-east of the one they were just in, and they collected a Hoo Bean and a Mushroom from the two blocks in the new section. Luigi bashed the ! block on the right. In the room they were just in, the electric gate that blocked Mario and Luigi off from the area to the west of the big one they were just in was turned off.

Running back to that area, they saw the electric gate off.

"Well, that's a shocker! I didn't see that coming…" Mario joked as they headed into the new area…which was infested with Laser Snifits. Luigi jumped on one of them, and also bounced off the two Yo Bros who were tagged along with it. The Laser Snifit blasted Mario as revenge, and Mario retaliated with a kick to the face, knocking it out too. One of the Yo Bros took this as an opportunity, and threw a spiked red yo-yo at Mario, hitting him in the stomach. The other did the same with a spiked green yo-yo, this one directed at Luigi.

Luigi whistled, and the Bros did Knockback Bros, hitting the second Yo Bro pretty hard, and knocking it to the floor and making it faint. Mario hammered the lone Yo Bro, and it charged up a red energy. Luigi smashed the Yo Bro with his foot…and it howled in pain, only to be silenced with a kick to the chin by Mario.

A pair of Laser Snifits approached Mario and Luigi, and they stood their ground firmly. One of them stood right next to Luigi, and shot a laser which didn't even hit him…and the other sent one from a distance at Mario, who was scorched on the leg. Mario finished one off, while Luigi dealt damage to the other. It shot a laser at Luigi, and he was burned on the leg, and this made Mario smack his foot into its face, finishing it off.

Mario and Luigi hopped through another laser ring sent out by another Snifit, and ran to the next section.

"IT'S DR. MARIO! GET HIM!" a Blue Virus shouted, teaming up with an Eeker and a Red Virus, and jumping Mario.

The Blue Virus tried to jump and bite Mario's head, but was swatted away with a hammer, and turned into a Yellow Virus. The Eeker swayed left and right, then attempted to tackle Luigi…but was jumped on. The Red Virus didn't even get to approach Luigi before he was smashed with a hammer, and turned into a Blue Virus.

"I wonder what happens if they're all the same colour…?" Mario thought, jumping on the Eeker and knocking it out.

Luigi jumped on the Blue Virus, and it turned Yellow. The two Yellow Viruses felt something zip through them, and they fell on their backs, struggled to get up, and blew up, leaving no evidence there was a tiny explosion.

"Hey! They regenerated! Let's take 'em down again!" Mario pointed at the Red Virus, the Blue Virus and the Eeker, then jumped them.

He hammered away the Blue Virus when it tried to munch his head and it turned Yellow, then the Eeker bashed him. The Red Virus bit Luigi's head, and leaped back. Mario jumped on to the Yellow Virus, failed to deal maximum damage, and it turned Red…and it and its friend exploded once more. Luigi struck the Eeker with his foot, and sent it flying.

They carried on going forward, and reached a kind of museum. They ignored the Bros Block and the robot there, and went north. Mario gaped at the four very familiar blocks he saw in there. As they walked onwards to the west, he smiled fondly.

"Good times…good times…"

"It's a dead end, we should probably go back and head the other way." Luigi suggested.

. . .

"Sun Door…North. Block Research Room…West." Luigi said, reading a sign he missed earlier.

"Well, we should probably go to the Sun Door then, since we have nowhere else to go."

"Yep."

Mario jumped on a Red Virus, a Yellow Virus, and an Eeker. After counterattacking the Red Virus, Luigi kicked away the Eeker, and it fainted. With a weak kick to the now Blue Virus, it turned Yellow, and the two Yellow Viruses exploded.

"LEVEL UP!" Mario cheered, improving his STACHE by 4.

"Woo, me too!" Luigi joined in, getting the same STACHE increase.

They swerved around several gangs of enemies, and headed east. They ignored the wide block, and high-jumped to the higher ledge, getting a Hoo Bean, a Mushroom and a Nut. Heading back to the last room, they went north this time, dodging a laser ring and retaliating with a kick to the Laser Snifit who tried to laser them, and landed on their friend too.

The first Snifit tried another laser ring attack, but Mario jumped through it stylishly…and the other tried a laser ring attack on Luigi, and part of it skimmed his leg.

"YAH!"

Mario finished off the one who attacked him, and Luigi finished off the other, both of them using jumps to do so.

Heading east, they dodged another two gangs of enemies, read a sign, and reached an area to the north with a lot of whackable statues. 6 of them on the left, and 6 of them on the right. All in three rows, and four columns. Some of them had blue circles, others having red.

"According to that sign, we have to…" Luigi started.

He whacked the top-left statue to turn it red, then whacked the statue to the south-east of it to turn it blue. Luigi hammered the one to the south of it to turn it blue, and did the same to the one to the left of it, turning that red.

"OK, the left side is done. Mario, it's your turn."

Mario walked to the right half of the statues, and started off by hitting the top-right one. He then whacked the one to the south of it, and finished it off by hammering the statue to the south-west of the one he last hit.

The statues started disappearing, and once the last one was gone, a wheel with a circle in the middle turned on, and it let out a beam of light. The light bounced off the mirrors in the previous rooms, and stopped at a point where it couldn't bounce anywhere. This was far enough to make a door on a high ledge to open, and the Bros followed the light to the door.

"North, Generator Service Room. East, Sun Door." Luigi read.

They high-jumped up the high ledge nearby, and were mobbed by a Red Virus and its gang: A Blue and a Yellow Virus.

"Primary colors!" Mario pointed out as Luigi hammered away the Blue Virus, turning it Yellow. Mario got his hammer to connect with the Red Virus' face, and it turned blue, howling in pain. With another weak kick, the Blue Virus was turned Yellow, and the trio exploded.

Just when the duo were about to enter the new section to the west, a Blue Virus and his team (a Red Virus and a Yellow Virus) jumped Mario. The plumber hammered away the leader, turning him Yellow. While Luigi watched this, the Red Virus made a lunge for him, and at the last possible moment before getting munched, Luigi managed to hammer it away. Mario hammered the now Blue Virus weakly, it turned yellow, and like before, they exploded, leaving behind a pair of Refreshing Herbs.

They ignored a block with a 0 on it, and headed south.

They were now in a room with all sorts of stuff, like plugs, wires, and other electrical stuff. The Bros walked around a corner, and kept going straight till they saw a little gap in one of the walls. Mario let himself be hammered into Mini-Mario, and hopped through the gap (as it wasn't on floor level). He hit the red switch at the end of the enclosed room, and a red gate to the left leading into the room to the left of the one Mario was in opened…and a red gate closed Mario in.

"Well, I'm trapped. That's just great."

Luigi ran into the newly opened room, and hit the red switch in that. Luigi was closed in too, and a block appeared in Mario's room, who hit it on sight.

"Jump and hit the blocks as they move to score points! Get 30 points in 25 seconds or less and the door to the next area will open." A voice boomed out of nowhere.

. . .

To say the least, 30 blocks were hit with relative ease, and a red gate that was blocking another gap Mini-Mario could enter with a jump was opened to the south. The Bros reunited, ran to the newly opened path, and Mini-Mario hopped through it, hitting a block nearby for a Mushroom, and climbing up the steps on to the walls off the room.

Mario carefully traversed on the narrow ledge, going around the long way and jumping a short gap only to fall into the room he was trying to explore. Dusting himself off, Mario hammered a red switch he saw once he got up. This opened a red gate that was trapping a barrel inside, and Luigi followed his ears to the barrel.

"Mario! There's a barrel here!"

Mario climbed up the ledges near the hammered red switch, and continued to the east, then going south and entering a new area.

"Mario?"

The plumber landed in an empty room, and felt something was here. He jumped about aimlessly, until he fell to the ground after causing a block to appear. Getting up, he pranced around some more, and three more blocks appeared.

"Adventuring instincts, they never fail me."

Mario hit all four blocks, claiming a Hoo Bean from each of them, and now climbed up the ledges behind him back into the area where Luigi was calling him.

"MARIO!"

"Hello!"

Luigi jumped, and saw Mario at his feet. He hammered Mario back to normal, and pointed to the barrel, then a red switch on a wall which was high enough for neither of the Bros alone to reach.

"You see that red switch up there? We've gotta hit it." Luigi explained, glancing at the barrel.

Mario realized he was implying that he should be whacked underground to get into the barrel, and did so. Luigi popped into the barrel nicely, and waddled to the red switch, Mario following. Once Luigi reached the switch, he stopped, and allowed Mario to jump on him to hit the switch.

. . .

The mirror where the beam of light stopped now turned 45 degrees clockwise, and this allowed the light to bounce off the mirror and go south. It reached another mirror, which sent the light east, where it stopped at a mirror which was looking directly at the light. Mario and Luigi ran to the scene just in time to see all this, and followed the beam of light.

When they reached the end, they noticed a closed door from earlier was now open.

Mario and Luigi exchanged a glance, and walked in.


	20. Let It Shine

Mario and Luigi - A Superstar Story

Chapter 20: Let It Shine

Luigi examined the map as Mario collected a Hoo Bean, a jar of Syrup, a Mushroom, a Super Mushroom, and several coins from 5 blocks. Luigi jumped down from the higher ledge, and followed Mario west. They jumped down the high ledge once they entered the next section, and saw a face on the wall similar to the one in Chucklehuck Woods. Mario walked over a little mat in front of the face without noticing, and the face glared at Mario.

"Uh…I don't like the look of this."

The face spat a small electric ball at Mario, blasting him into Luigi, and they ended up in a pile.

"We need barrels."

The Bros high-jumped up on to a brown ledge, and walked into the next section. As soon as Mario made a jump for an interesting block above his head, it floated to the middle of a gap between a ledge near them, and a ledge on the other side.

"Darn!" Mario groaned as he spin-jumped across the gap, ignoring the block for now. "I hate those moving blocks…always moving out of the way…"

After spin-jumping across a U shaped hole, Mario and Luigi reached a switch. Mario kicked it, making Luigi give him a look and causing some spikes to retract from a small hole's entrance.

"What? Hammering these gets old fast. I wanted to mix it up." Mario explained as he spin-jumped across another U shaped hole and was hammered into Mini-Mario.

He walked into the hole, and traversed through the maze. After several maze antics, Mario made his way to a switch, which he head-butted.

. . .

In the room with the face thing, a barrel was dropped.

. . .

"So, you think that did something in that room from earlier?"

"Probably." Luigi answered as they headed back to the room.

. . .

Luigi popped into the barrel, and walked on to the tile. The face shot an electric ball at Luigi, and it bounced off the barrel, into a statue. It started flashing red, and Mario lunged out of the way when it tackled Luigi, breaking his barrel.

"Guess we need to find another way…perhaps maybe another barrel?"

The Bros headed back into the room from earlier (the one with the U shaped gaps), and continued their search for the barrel.

The Bros noticed an entrance to their right, and went through, then climbing down a slope and soon reaching a switch near red and yellow crane.

"You know, this is actually a pretty dangerous place for people to learn." Mario said as he whacked the switch. "I mean, who even designed this place?"

"Whoever it was, they must have had some crazy designs." Luigi shrugged.

They came back to the room with the barrel, and there were now two, one blocking the statue. After being driven underground, Luigi tunnelled blindly to the barrel, and after several attempts, he popped out of the ground into it. Mario guided his bro to the mat, and the face sprung to life again. It's eyes flashed white, and it spat out an electric ball, which the barrel Luigi was in deflected into the empty barrel blocking the statue, which deflected the ball too.

The electric ball hit a switch, activating it and causing the crane from earlier to start up again, and it moved towards the room Mario and Luigi were in. The crane pinched the barrel Luigi was in, and took it away.

"Why do cranes like to grab me?" Luigi wailed, stuck in the barrel and unable to escape.

"OH, NO!" Mario cried, running after the crane to the switch they just recently hit.

"DOCTOR MARIO'S ALONE! LET'S MOB HIM!" a Blue Virus commanded, causing a ton of them to storm after Mario, who instantly started jumping up the nearby ledge and on to a separate one which had a block floating there with a Refreshing Herb in it. He jumped to the next one.

Mario quickly swiped the Syrup from the platform ahead after jumping there, and jumped to a third platform with a Mushroom in the block there. The Viruses had the platform Mario was now on surrounded, and some of them were even gnawing on the wood keeping it up.

Mario looked over the edge slowly, and sweat-dropped. He stepped back, and lunged over the edge hitting the ground, getting up and making a spring into the room to the south.

"MARIO!" Luigi wailed, trying to wiggle out of the crane's grip…but the crane had a tight one indeed. It positioned itself at the top of a couple of slopes, and dropped Luigi on a grey platform at the top. Mario saw all of this, and noticed some grey barrels rolling to an end, turning, and rolling on to a lower slope to the end of that one, and it continued till they were about to hit Mario.

"Let's hope I didn't forget how to do this." Mario hoped, running towards the first barrel and hopping over it, causing "100 Points" in white text to appear. "Uh…I think I've got this down."

He repeated this about ten more times, and reached the top.

"Woo, that was some exercise." Mario said, approaching Luigi.

The crane suddenly dropped down, knocked Mario back, and pinched Luigi, taking him away, exposing a red switch, which was kicked on sight, causing a grey pillar to lower.

The crane came back down, and dropped Luigi where the grey barrels were coming from. Luigi rolled down like the other barrels, and rolled into the newly opened path where the grey pillar once blocked. He rolled up and down the U gaps in the next room, rolled off the edge of the platform, and soared up a little ramp, hitting a block and breaking free of the barrel and causing the mirror the beam of light stopped at to turn clockwise a bit, allowing the light to travel north.

It hit another mirror, sending it east into yet another mirror that completely stopped the beam of light…but a gate nearby opened up.

. . .

"Ugh…" Luigi groaned.

Mario came flying into view. They hugged, and everything was K. The Bros returned to the room with the barrels, and darted after the lengthened beam of light, reaching the newly opened room, seeing some water pouring near a sign.

"It's probably just going to be some kind of tutorial, so let's just ignore it." Mario said, approaching the water and drinking it. Luigi heaved the now chubby Mario into the room to the south, and saw an electric mouse standing in front of a gap in the electric pipe. Luigi whacked Mario in the back, causing him to blast out a spurt of water (and changed him back to normal), knocking the mouse into the gap of the electric pipe, connecting it.

This caused a fan to start blowing, and it blew a block all up in its face towards a spot with ground below. Mario ran to it, hit the block, and caused the mirror outside to turn, and it made the beam of light bounce of it to the north, hitting an X mark on a mirror. Mario and Luigi chased it there, and hit a block nearby, flipping the mirror and giving it a O mark instead. The light shone through, and hit a door that resembled a round safe.

Mario and Luigi cheered when it opened, and ran through.

. . .

Fawful added the finishing touches to the third Peach Bot, and smirked.

"Preparations have completion!" Fawful called. "O Great Cackletta, unleash the voice of Princess Peach on the Beanstar when you are wanting to!"

Cackletta walked in, an evil grin on her face.

"Eeyah ha ha ha!" she cackled. "The moment when all the world will bow down to me has come at last…"

* * *

**Ooh, this ended nicely. ^^**


	21. The Battle of Epic Proportions

Mario and Luigi - A Superstar Story

Chapter 21: The Battle of Epic Proportions

Mario and Luigi entered through the circle door that opened recently. Mario snatched the Hoo Bean and Super Mushroom from the two blocks in the room, and the Bros high-jumped up some platforms, reaching a higher ledge with a Hoo Bean in a block on it.

After noming on some Mushrooms and a jar of Syrup, the Bros were now ready.

"Cackletta could be through there…you ready, bro?" Mario asked Luigi.

"Um…" Luigi said nervously.

"I'll take that as a yes." Mario said, grabbing Luigi and dragging him in.

. . .

Fawful was watching the three robots surround the Beanstar. Cackletta was pacing back and forth.

"Eeyah ha ha ha!" Cackletta cackled, unaware of the Bros' presence. "Peach-bots! SPEAK!"

She took out a remote control, and pushed a red button.

"Ho! Ho! Ho!" the Peach-bots sang badly, "Ho! Ho! Ho!"

"Ugh…they sound terrible." Mario thought, hiding behind a pillar nearby with Luigi.

The Beanstar opened its eyes, and turned red with rage. It seemed to not be able to stand such terrible singing, and rose into the air, fuming. Then it started to crash into the floor, creating gaping holes in it, and causing Fawful and Cackletta to flee.

"It has fury!" Fawful cried, running to one side.

The Beanstar did one last smash before sending all three Peach-bots into a giant hole along with anything else there. Then it fell into the hole. Cackletta approached the hole slowly, and peeked over the edge.

"Eeyah ha ha…HUH?! Wh-Wha-What happened?! What is this?"

"I have fright! A situation we had not suspected has begun to d-d-d-develop! May we flee?" Fawful asked, approaching the hole and Cackletta.

"NOW!"

Mario and Luigi ran into the scene, hammers ready.

"EEYARGH!" Cackletta screamed, shivering with fright. "Pests! Loathsome pests! And at the worst possible moment! We don't have time to deal with you fools!"

Luigi smirked, spun towards Fawful, who was panicking, and smashed him with his hammer.

"Oh, yeah!" Luigi gave a thumbs-up to Mario, returned with a wink.

Cackletta jumped, and screamed again. "EEYARGH!"

"Give it up, Cackletta!" Mario shouted. "You're going down!"

"Hah! Hmph! Well, won't this be fun! Oh, yes!" Cackletta smiled calmly. "If that's how it is, I'm ready for you! I'm going to knock you all the way back to the Mushroom Kingdom!"

She then enlarged, and made a scary face, startling Luigi, but he stood his ground. This caused thunder to strike randomly, and holes to move about. The Bros managed to dodge the holes, but the thunder strangely didn't even get close to hitting Mario or Luigi.

Cackletta then raised her hands, and split into three.

"Which is the real me? Do you idiots know?"

Mario tackled the one in the middle, who turned out to be the real deal. She howled, and then saw Mario get hammered into Mini-Mario and whacked towards her. She screeched, weakening the blow dealt to her, but the witch still cringed at the damage dealt.

Cackletta split into three again. Mario struck the middle one…and it was the real deal…again.

"Weak…" Mario groaned, bored by how easy that was.

Luigi charged at Cackletta, giving her the chance to get to know his hammer. Cackletta was now annoyed, and raised her arms, causing thunder to strike.

"Ah, don't worry. She has terrible aim with this attack." Mario assured, then getting struck by a thunderbolt. "I stand corrected."

There was no response. Mario looked at Luigi, and he was floored by a thunderbolt. Cackletta did the attack again, striking Luigi while he was vulnerable.

"Eeyah ha ha!" Cackletta cackled.

"That's just cheap." Mario mumbled, kicking her in the face and instantly stopping her laughter.

Luigi got up, jumped into the air, and smashed Cackletta in the head with his hammer. Cackletta split into three again. Mario struck the one on the right this one in the dress.

"Ooh, that's gotta smart." Luigi winced as Cackletta tried not to wail.

Mario shrugged as Luigi jumped on her. As Luigi fell back to the ground, Cackletta quickly sent a thunderbolt at him, striking Mario while he watched Luigi get shocked…twice, and then a third time.

The Bros started up Chopper Bros, and just as Mario started to rapidly bonk Cackletta in the face with a hammer as he spun to the floor, he accidentally lost his spin, and fell, only getting in one hit. Mario grinned sheepishly at Luigi, and he punched Cackletta just before she split up again.

"There's no way you'll be able to hit me this time!" the left Cackletta taunted.

"Well, I guess you're the one." Mario stated, tackling the left Cackletta. Luigi leaped at the now alone Cackletta, and hit her in the jaw.

"There's no way you'll be able to hit me THIS time!" the middle Cackletta taunted.

Mario face-palmed, and struck the middle Cackletta.

She pouted, then struck Luigi with thunderbolts three times, and managed to hit Mario once. Mario jumped on Cackletta, bouncing off her head to get whacked back into her by Luigi, performing Knockback Bros very quickly and winding her.

"Tenacious little boys, aren't you? I'm too busy for such games!" Cackletta said, annoyed at how persistent the Bros were. "Time for this to end!"

She enlarged herself again, and did her scary face, this time not even fazing Luigi. She sent thunderbolts and holes at the Bros, but everything missed. She stopped herself from gasping, and maintained her scary face even as Mario and Luigi started up Drill Bros.

Mario spun through the air, stopping above Luigi, falling on him, and getting pushed back into the air, spinning even faster this time, and flew above Cackletta.

"SPIN ATTACK…" He drilled into her large face, bouncing off it and landing stylishly. "…TO THE FACE!

"Eeyah ha…HUURGH!" Cackletta groaned, not looking too good, and collapsed in a small pile.

"Level up!" Mario cheered, reaching Level 17 and improving his Stache by 4.

"Woo! Me too!" Luigi joined in, reaching Level 17 too and improving his POW by 4.

"Graagh! Eeyaaa…ha…hohhh…" Cackletta moaned, in a small beaten-up pile. "H-How could this happen?!"

Fawful tunnelled through the ground like Luigi does towards Cackletta."CACKLETTA! Do not have worries!"

Fawful popped out of the ground, helmet and all. "Watch! I am sucking up your energy with this headgear!"

Fawful's headgear sucked up the beaten Cackletta, and the helmet expanded so she would fit in there. Fawful now looked like he had a big brain.

"Oh…Oh…Oh, Fawful!" Cackletta ordered. "Give them one final…attack for me!"

"I say to you YES!"

"Oh, no…"

"Are we screwed?"

"I'm pretty sure we are."

"Darn."

Luigi started panicking, to Fawful's amusement.

"Now is the time when my true might floods out, like the plot-twist of a movie that is bad! Snack on my wrath, fink-rats, for I HAVE FURY!"

Fawful approached the Bros, the duo stepping back every time Fawful came closer. He was just about to attack when suddenly Prince Peasley came flying out of nowhere and kicked Fawful in the face, knocking him over, which startled the Bros.

Prince Peasley then quickly started jabbing Fawful with a sword, and managed to open him up for one powerful blow. The Prince slashed, and sent Fawful flying out of Woohoo Hooniversity, landing who knows where."Now! Quickly! To the fallen Beanstar!" Prince Peasley said quickly once he turned to Mario and Luigi.

"But the Beanstar was all like RAGE RAGE RAGE RAGE when it heard Peach's voice, and smashed everything!" Mario said, waving his arms for emphasis.

"Yeah, and it's now in that hole somewhere." Luigi said calmly pointing to the hole.

"What? The Beanstar heard Princess Peach's voice and went mad?" Peasley waggled a finger. "But why would Princess Peach's voice drive the Beanstar mad? I sense a surprising secret at the center of this riddle! I shall explain it all in detail once we have safely recovered the Beanstar that has fallen below. You two must go to the bottom floor immediately!"

He dazzled the area, blinding everything, then flew off on that blue, winged pillow of his.

"Looks like this adventure isn't over just yet." Mario said.

"Yep."

"OK, let's a go get that Beanstar!"

"Oh, yeah!"

* * *

**This actually didn't feel that epic. I have disappointment. Also, expect another chapter later today because this one was pretty short.**


	22. The Other Battle of Epic Proportions

**Hopefully this chapter lives up to its name, unlike its counterpart. :P**

* * *

Mario and Luigi - A Superstar Story

Chapter 22: The Other Battle of Epic Proportions

Mario and Luigi high-jumped up a ledge, and walked through an open door. After collecting a Nut, some coins, a Super Mushroom, a Super Nut and a Chuckle Bean as they traversed down many staircases till they reached the bottom and dropped off the ledge on to a white kind of flooring and trekked onwards into the next area.

Dodging some Laser Snifits and some Viruses, the Bros made it into a new section, and saw a pair of Laser Snifits working on a pair of Mecha Chomps. One of the Mecha Chomps looked completed, while the other looked like it needed some work.

The Laser Snifits got to work on it, and the Bros just sat down and watched. After several moments of watching, they spoke.

"Should we knock 'em out now or should we wait till they finish building those things?" Luigi asked.

"As much as I'm itching to fight, I'd rather give them the chance to finish whatever they're building before we pummel them."

After quite a while of watching the Snifits test the Mecha Chomp, one of the Laser Snifits pressed a button on a remote control it brought out, and the Mecha Chomp barked. The other Snifit took out a clipboard, and wrote "MORE RAWR" on it. He showed it to the other Snifit, and he nodded. They then turned both of the Mecha Chomps fully on, and high-fived each other.

Mario quickly stomped one of the Laser Snifits, knocking it out with one blow and making the other fume with rage and send a laser ring at him, missing however and getting smacked by Luigi's hammer, getting sent careening into a wall, and dropping the remote control….which landed on the side with the buttons, and caused the Mecha Chomps to start flashing orange.

Luigi sweat-dropped, and watched the closer one flash orange and green, stopping on green and waiting a moment before extending its head into Luigi, knocking him over.

"That was a cheap shot!" Mario called out as the other approached the two of them, randomizing its color again before stopping on orange and extending its head at Mario, who jumped over said head and bounced off of it, dealing some damage. Mario leaped on to the Mecha Chomp, and banged its head with his fist several times before being flung off. Luigi quickly hammered down the weakened Mecha Chomp, leaving only a lone one left.

The now lone Mecha Chomp skidded towards the Bros again as it flashed orange and green, slowly coming to a stop on orange, and lunged its head at Mario, but to no avail, it was stomped, then hammered by the same red plumber…blowing up in a massive explosion.

Mario levelled up again, reaching Level 18 and getting an extra +4 STACHE.

Luigi levelled up again, too, reaching Level 18 just like his bro and gaining an extra +3 STACHE.

The Bros high-jumped up a ledge, and walked onwards, dodging several more enemies as they dropped down a couple of ledges only to get stopped by a Yellow Virus and its cohorts Blue and Red. Red tackled Mario, and Blue tackled Luigi. Mario lightly kicked Red, turning him Blue, and Luigi hammered away the Blue who was once Red, turning him Yellow. Mario was then tackled by Yellow, and Luigi softly hammered the Blue Virus, turning him Yellow.

All the Viruses in the battle matched up, and they fell on their backs and exploded.

Mario proudly claimed a Super Syrup from a nearby block, and they trudged onwards into the next area, dodging a wild Yellow Virus and getting a Super Mushroom.

"Underground Generator Room…East." Luigi read from a sign near a Underground Generator Room entrance…which was unfortunately closed. They ran past the Yellow Virus again and kept running till they stopped at a pipe with water pouring out. It was a dead end.

They looked across the gap to their left, and they saw some wind-up mice come out of a hole. Mario filled himself up with water, stared at the mouse, and let Luigi whack him, causing him to shoot out a spurt of water which sent the mouse into a gap in an electric pipe. There were two more gaps like this further down the pipe.

They repeated this two more times, and the volts went through the pipe perfectly, and it went along the rooms till it reached the Underground Generator Room's entrance, which was opened now. The Bros walked back to the entrance, and walked on through after eating a Mushroom each.

They high-jumped up a ledge, and gasped when they saw the Beanstar on the floor, panting with Rookie and Popple standing nearby, grinning.

"The Beanstar suddenly came falling down out of nowhere… It was shocking, see?" Popple smirked. "But having treasure fall out of the sky sure is lucky! Yeah! That's right! Verrry lucky! Only Popple the Shadow Thief could get such results, see?"

"You're amazing, Boss!" Rookie praised, doing a short hop.

Mario and Luigi approached them, now being noticed by Popple and Rookie. Popple stared madly at them for a few seconds, then shook his head.

"Rookie!"

"Yes, Boss!" Rookie answered, walking up to Popple.

"Uh-Unless my eyes are screwy…" Popple started.

"WHICH THEY PROBABLY ARE!" Mario called out tauntingly, interrupting him too.

"Look there! It's Red and Green from the Chateau!"

Luigi waved his hat and Mario spin-jumped into the air as a term of saying "Hello."

"Well, boo! Boo to you, I say!" Popple growled. "Why does this always happen?! This isn't funny, see? Rookie!"

_Why does this always happen?!_

_Why does this always happen?!_

_Why does this always happen?!_

. . .

"Why does this always happen?!" Rookie cried, getting kicked in the face by someone.

He landed on the floor and looked around lazily. He was in the castle from before, with the girl in pink and the two people from before standing before him. He now noticed not only was one green, the other was red! His mouth went on auto-pilot again.

"C-r-e-! Th-r-d -g-n!"

"Y-u n-ve- -ea-, d- -ou B-ws-?"

That name again…Rookie was sure he knew that name…but didn't know who it belonged to. Why did they keep calling them that? Either way, his mouth continued to speak for him.

"I'- -et -o- -e-t -me, -a-io -nd L-gi!"

"B-o, -a- -e g- n-w?"

The three people now started to walk off…leaving a dazed Rookie in this castle.

"W-wait!" Rookie called out.

The only one who heard in time was the one in red. They turned around, and stared hard at Rookie.

"What?" the one in red asked.

Rookie could hear everything more clearly now…

"Who am I?" he asked.

"You should know." They said, then jumped out through the door, after the others.

. . .

Rookie spaced out. Popple was giving him a dark glare. Rookie came out of his daze, and quickly responded.

"Yes, Boss!"

"These two numbskulls seem to like the old ring-a-ding-ding! Time to scrap again, see?"

"Yes, Boss!"

Rookie walked in front of the Beanstar, and started doing a little dance as Luigi watched while sitting down Mario and Popple teamed up, and lifted the Beanstar carefully to the side. They laid it down, and bowed to each other. Then they rushed back to their sides, preparing to do battle once more.

Popple started off the fight by mugging Luigi for one of his Super Mushrooms.

"I'll be taking that, see?"

Mario mumbled stuff incoherently as the Bros were blasted by a line of fire coughed out by Rookie. This lighted them on fire, and they panicked about, rolling, jumping, spinning and doing whatever they could to douse the fire. Mario ended up jumping on Popple and setting him on fire too. Rookie glared at the plumber.

"I'M THROWING HAMMERS!" Rookie yelled, a hammer bonking Luigi on the head.

Luigi hammered Mario, shrinking him into Mini-Mario, and smashed him into Rookie, bouncing off of him in a way where Luigi was able to smash him back into Rookie again, and then a third time. This heavily damaged Rookie, causing him pant for a bit.

Popple didn't look very happy about that.

"Rookie! Step it up, see?"

"Yes, Boss!"

"I'm just going to call that Rally Bros." Luigi said.

Popple darted towards Luigi in an attempt to knock him over, but missed and got jumped on. Rookie raised his arm to throw some hammers, howling at how painful it was to do so, yet still being able to toss some hammers at Mario and then spat a line of fire at Mario, which he all hammered away or dived out of the way of. Mario then struck Popple with a kick to the knee.

Mario grinned as Popple raged about on the spot, as Rookie tossed some hammers about. One of them hit Mario, and one of them hit Luigi.

"Gee, watch where you throw those things!" Mario scolded, rubbing his back.

Rookie just grinned, and Luigi kicked his teeth as soon as he saw the opening. Popple stared down Luigi, causing him to ready himself. Popple noticed this, ran up to him, and quickly lunged at Mario instead. No one saw this coming, and Mario was tackled to the ground. Mario and Popple were caught up into a quick scuffle, and soon they jumped back to their separate sides.

"Master Popple!" Rookie called. "These two guys are tougher than I thought!"

"I guess we got no choice, see?" Popple sighed, annoyed at having to resort to such measures to defeat the Bros. "Use THAT technique!"

Popple turned to Rookie once he was behind him, and Rookie grabbed him, and started to swing Popple about like a windmill, until he had enough speed where he could throw him high into the air…and did just that. Rookie jumped high into the air after Popple, and Mario just gaped.

"I'm shocked he could actually jump that high…"

It was hard to tell what was happening up there, but it looked like Rookie grabbed Popple and pointed him downwards in between his feet. They crashed into the ground, causing several shockwaves to come outwards towards the Bros. They didn't see this coming, and got swept away by one.

Rookie and Popple returned to their general positions, and Popple had a very large grin across his face as he watched Mario and Luigi struggle to get back up. Once they did, Luigi shook it off, and Mario shrugged it off like he was hardly hurt. Nevertheless, Popple still had the massive grin on his face.

"D-Did you see that?!" Popple asked, still keeping that enormous grin. "Hack! Koff! Th-That was our…Bros Attack!"

"GASP." Luigi had dropped his jaw in shock.

"You're not even brothers!" Mario called them out.

Popple ignored that last statement. Mario and Luigi glanced at each other, and nodded. Luigi jumped in front of Mario, and after putting on his hard hat, was hammered into the ground. Mario leaped towards Popple as Luigi dug towards him too, and as Luigi began to surface in front of Popple, Mario bounced off of his head, sending him back under.

"ADVANCE!"

Luigi tunnelled under Popple, and popped out underneath him, sending the Shadow Thief into the air. During that time, Mario had hammered him back into the ground, and once Popple landed, Luigi popped back up again, sending him back into the air. The third time, the chain was broken, and Popple was panting.

"That…will be called Burrow Bros." Mario said, folding his arms.

"He's nearly down!" Luigi pointed out.

Rookie ignited Popple with a quick blast of fire, and swung him like a windmill, then throwing him at Mario, who held his hands up, and attempted to block the blow. The damage he took was just about halved, and he was pushed back quite a bit. Mario then started running towards Popple with his hammer out, started spinning with the hammer extended, and once he was close enough, his hammer made hard connection with Popple's face.

"Spin attack to the face!" Mario laughed, watching Popple stuttered about, dazed, until he collapsed.

Rookie tossed a very fast, horizontally thrown hammer at Mario, knocking him on his back. Then he tossed a light, vertically thrown hammer at Luigi, which was kicked out of the way.

While Mario was down, Rookie decided to blast him, and spat a line of fire at Mario.  
Moments before it hit Mario, Luigi dived into the way, and took the fire. As he rolled about on the floor, Rookie threw a hammer at Luigi.

"Quit getting cheap hits in on us!" Mario shouted, still trying to get up.

After an awkward period of Rookie rummaging through his belongings for some hammers, Luigi trying to douse the fires on him, and Mario attempting to get up, Popple groaned.

"Get on with it already…"

Mario got up, Luigi got rid of the fires, and Rookie found some hammers, which didn't get to be used immediately as he was stepped on by Mario and hammered by Luigi.

Rookie resorted to blasting Luigi again, and throwing a hammer at his head. Rookie followed that up with another blast of fire at Luigi…but it was jumped over this time.

Luigi didn't bother attacking Rookie this time, and just sat there. Mario scratched his head at this, shrugged, and hammered Rookie's feet.

"YOWCH!"

Rookie blasted a line of fire at Luigi, and threw a hammer at Mario…the hammer getting dodged. Luigi approached Rookie for a hammer attack, but ended up getting conked by a hammer…and heard someone snicker.

The snickering was silenced with Mario smashing Rookie in the stomach with his hammer, which also caused him to cough. Luigi jump kicked Rookie, and he retaliated with some hammers, and some fire blasts, most of which Mario dodged or whacked away.

Mario got a lucky hit in, striking Rookie with his foot. Luigi didn't, but dealt some damage too.

Hammers were thrown. Fire was blasted.

Hammers were whacked away. Fire was dodged.

"We need to end this now." Luigi said. "Maybe Drill Bros will do the trick?"

"Probably."

They executed Drill Bros. Once Mario was pushed into the air, he spun towards the area above Rookie, and drilled into his face/head again partly in an attempt to make him remember.

"Spin attack to the face!"

Rookie moaned, then crashed to the ground, once again defeated.

Mario and Luigi high-fived each other.

But before they could grab the Beanstar, one of the Peach robots dropped in…literally.

"Ho! Ho! Ho!"

The robot was on the floor in a lying down position, its head tilted to its left.

"Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho!"

The Beanstar definitely heard this…and got mad. Real mad. It grew possibly triple its size in a second, and prepared to fly off. Popple could feel this happening, and instantly got up.

"Oh, no! Our treasure! It's gonna fly away, see?"

Popple latched on to the Beanstar…Rookie dong the same. The Beanstar lowered itself, about to blast off, and at the last moment, Mario and Luigi jumped on too.

"Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho!"

The Beanstar couldn't take it anymore, and rocketed out of the university into the air, heading skyward.

. . .

Popple's grip was slipping. He was slowly sliding down the Beanstar. He then lost his footing, and fell. Luigi was the next to go, slipping off.

The Beanstar accelerated, blasting Mario off of it, towards the ground due to the force. Rookie could feel the Beanstar's power, flowing through him now. His memories flooded back to him.

. . .

Rookie was once again in the castle…and looked at himself. He was like a hologram! And there was a duplicate of him in a position he may have once been in!

A Koopa approached his other self, and bowed.

"King Bowser, sir!" the Koopa began.

He was a king! And his name was Bowser?! It seemed like this time, he wasn't part of the flashback…he was actually watching it instead!

"What, my minion?" Rookie's duplicate asked.

The creature was his minion! Rookie wondered what other kinds of creatures were his minions.

"Your Foulness, thee Mario Bros have been spotted approaching the castle!"

"WHAT?!"

Were the Mario Bros he just fought, and these Mario Bros his minion was speaking of the same Mario Bros?

"Your Merciless, what should we do?"

"What are our options?"

"The Banzai Bills are one option with which we can blast them to the Cactus Kingdom!"

"Next option."

"We can send in BoomBoom and PomPom to ambush them!"

"Next option."

"Well, we could set up all our Chain Chomps at every entrance so they're ripped to shreds!"

"Next option."

"What about General Guy and his troops?"

"Nah."

"We could freeze them with the Crystal King?"

"Anything else?"

"None at the top of my head, your Evilness."

"How about we just send in BoomBoom and PomPom then?"

"Yes, my league."

"Grah ha ha, excellent. Mario and Luigi won't see it coming!"

Mario and Luigi…were they…the Mario Bros?

. . .

"Bowser!" Mario yelled.

Just like before, they were talking to and facing a duplicate of him.

"We meet again, Mario Bros!" Rookie's duplicate said.

"Give Princess Peach back!" Luigi ordered.

Princess Peach…the name rang a bell to him.

"Grah ha ha! Never! Troops, attack!" Rookie's duplicate denied.

"Come on, Luigi!" Mario called.

"OK, bro!" Luigi responded.

"Mario!" Peach cried from her cage stuck to the ceiling.

"Let's a go!" Mario cheered.

"I won't let you down!" Luigi promised.

"You won't stand a chance!" Rookie's duplicate doubted.

. . .

Rookie realized it. He was reliving the same three flashbacks in a row! And they were all much, much clearer!

"Curses! Thwarted again!" Rookie's duplicated growled, falling to the floor.

"You never learn, do you Bowser?" Mario asked, landing on the ground.

"I'll get you next time, Mario and Luigi!"

"Bro, can we go now?" Luigi asked.

Who he now knew as Mario nodded, and who he now knew as Luigi along with a female in a pink dress walked off. Mario started to walk off too, but…

"Wait!" Rookie cried.

Mario stopped.

"I know who I am, now!"

Mario said nothing.

"I AM…KING BOWSER!"

Mario turned, and true Rookie…who didn't know he could be seen. Rookie stared himself down, and realized he had materialized. He glanced at his duplicate, or at least, where it was…and it wasn't there.

Then Mario smiled.

. . .

"Oh! I remember! I remember! I…I am…I am…" Rookie shouted out. "Bowser the King!"

The Beanstar started to send out a pulse, then it grew, then shrunk, then grew, then shrunk, and caused Bowser to fall off of it.

The Beanstar exploded into four red pieces…which soon turned green again and obtained a green-yellow glow. The pieces fell towards ground, landing in separate locations, unknown to no one at this time and moment.

. . .

Mario continued to fall…noticing a piece of the Beanstar fly overhead.

"What was that-"

His sentence was cut off as he had landed…on his head. His world was then engulfed in darkness...

* * *

**Just like Chapter 1 of this story…it ends with Mario and Luigi falling towards the ground. Perfect time for a cliff-hanger. *brick'd***


	23. Don't Play With Fire

Mario and Luigi - A Superstar Story

Chapter 23: Don't Play With Fire

**East Beanbean: Oho Oasis**

Luigi was lying on the shore of an oasis. He wasn't moving. The water washed over Luigi, startling him and waking him up. Luigi got up…and realized Mario wasn't nearby.

"Mario! Mario! Mario!" Luigi cried, calling for his brother.

He then saw some crabs scuttle by…and followed them to where Mario landed. Only his head was sticking out, and some crabs were bashing him. Luigi darted to his brother, scaring away the crabs.

Luigi mumbled something incoherently, and then waved his hand in front of Mario's face, waking him up from his daze. Mario then attempted to get out of the sand…and did it with relative ease. Luigi cheered, and they decided to go explore.

"Oh, look, there's an old tape machine there. You think it still works?" Luigi asked.

"Probably. Should we play it?"

"Let's."

_It has been a week since our Oho Civilization Research Expedition reached this island. We have named the mysterious creatures native to this island the Oho Jee. It is strange…they use the same spoken vocabulary that we do, but none comprehend what they mean…_

The tape machine sparked, then turned itself off.

"Did that tape machine mean those mysterious creatures over there?" Mario asked, pointing at a blue creature that resembled a round, which had legs and some yellow hair.

"Let's mingle to find out!"

Mario approached the creature.

"Hiya!" Mario waved.

"I…I…I wish I were sun at dusk…" it said, baffling Mario. "…ha, ha, kidding."

"He's probably an Oho Jee." Luigi assumed, following Mario to the west, soon stumbling across another tape machine.

Mario looked at Luigi, and he nodded. Mario gave the tape machine a light kick, starting it up.

_…It has been three weeks since our research expedition arrive here. The time, it speeds by… Today we made a most surprising discovery. We approached a red Oho Jee and happened to ignite it in a bizarre accident… The moment this red Oho Jee was touched by the flames, it turned into a monster! This monster Oho Jee attacked us, as might any creature that dislikes being set on fire. Unfortunately, the researcher who was attacked then transformed into an Oho Jee… We must conclude that it is best not to approach an Oho Jee if one plans to set it afire. Rather, it is better to stand a short distance away and then set fire to it, if one wishes. Surely the blue Oho Jee will respond to some stimuli and also transform into monsters. It may invite trouble, but clearly this must be researched more. Science demands it!_

"How much is a chance?" a nearby red Oho Jee randomly asked once the tape machine stopped. Mario shrugged.

"Look, bro! There's a giant temple over there! We should check it out."

Luigi led the way, across the oasis, up the stairs, past a red Oho Jee, and into a building with a weird symbol on the front.

"This Fire Palace. That way Thunder Palace." A red Oho Jee near the entrance said, pointing to the east with its foot.

"Hmm…I wonder what we'll find here." Mario thought as they hopped up some ledges and down a large one, walking into a new room. They continued to walk, past a gate with metal flooring in front of it, and stopped at a little hole, near a red Oho Jee who didn't notice their presence.

Luigi hammered Mario into Mini Mario, and he jumped through the hole in the wall, being forced to leave Luigi behind.

Mario jumped up several ledges.

"I am me." A lone Oho Jee said, standing beside a staircase.

Mario walked up the stairs. There was a stone slab blocking him from another staircase. It had a fire marking on it.

_Don't play with fire…or you'll get burned._

Mario smashed the stone slab, reducing it to a pile of rubble. The room started to flash, and a drop of something came flying down, hitting Mini Mario on the head and turning him back to regular-sized Mario.

Suddenly, a spirit with a sun hat and red and white clothes appeared in a ball of fire, arms folded. Mario stared in awe.

"Welcome! Yes, welcome! Welcome to the Fire Palace!" it welcomed. "I have been waiting for you. I have waited many long years, smoldering like embers. For you I have kept waiting…and waiting…and WAITING!"

"Looks like you've been playing the waiting game…doesn't sound fun. Sorry about that." Mario said, grinning sheepishly.

"In fact, the last time anyone came through here was…3000 years ago!"

"If you know that, then you're probably even older than 3000. Wow."

"Oh, waiting just burns me UP! But enough about that…so, why have you come?"

"What kind of place is this, anyway?" Mario asked.

"Huh? You, uh…this place…umm…this place of power…it is, uh… this place is…"

The spirit looked about, thinking, then just scratched his head.

"Now, wait a second…just what kind of place was this, anyway? What was it that I was planning on doing? Am I allowed in here? Huh? Wait just a minute! Where am I? WHO am I?"

"Uh…did waiting all this time with nothing eventful happening has made you forget why you're even here.

The spirit nodded.

"…Hm! I guess having no guests for 3000 years takes a toll. Everything just seems to…slip one's mind!" the spirit chuckled. "Har diddy HAR! How humorous! So! I guess you can do what you want! I won't stop you!"

The spirit disappeared in a white flash. Mario shrugged, walked up the second staircase, and found a glass ball with a powerful flame burning inside it.

"Ooo…" Mario gaped, its alluring force pulling him in and causing him to touch the ball with both hands.

Obviously, because there was a powerful flame burning inside the ball, the outside would be at least a bit hot, so Mario burnt his hands, and flapped them about in an attempt to cool them. Seconds later, his hands felt better, and a power entered Mario's body, causing his hands (the right hand more than the left) to glow brightly. After a while of this, his hands stopped glowing, and his right hand which he was holding in the air was suddenly set ablaze. The spirit warped back, right next to Mario and the ball. He snapped his fingers.

"Oh! Wait! I just remembered! This is the famed Fire Palace, where we teach the ways of the blistering Hand Power! Yes…it is all coming back…I have been waiting for you. You want the Hand Power, right? You want to master the fiery Hand Power known as the Firebrand, do you not? You do, right? Right? RIGHT?" he asked, nodding over and over again. "You do not need to tell me. Your pose says it all."

The spirit held out one hand, and fireball spawned over it.

"I shall instruct you in the arts of the Firebrand!"

Mario stopped posing, and gave the spirit his full attention.

"Hold your position until you have charged up enough energy…then release the power! Only then shall you shoot forth a might blast of flame! Perhaps you should try it once." The spirit suggested after demonstrating.

Mario copied the spirit nearly perfectly.

_Mario mastered the Firebrand!_

"I see no problem with your skill." The spirit said, nodding. "If you just do this action near something flammable, you should have no problems! Surely this skill will open new paths in your life! Wouldn't you agree? So…FAREWELL!"

Mario dropped down the ledges, back-tracking to the south-east, and entering the room through the path there. In that room, there was a small structure with a hole below a flame mark. Mario shot a fireball at the structure, lighting the hole and causing the gate from earlier to lower. Luigi came running to the sound, to find Mario.

"Mario!" Luigi cried.

"Check this out, Luigi!" Mario said, shooting a fireball at the wall.

"How'd you learn that?"

Mario explained what happened.

"Awesome, bro! That new skill might help us get out of this place…but first, we should leave this palace."

. . .

Now that they were out in the oasis again, Mario and Luigi continued to explore, finding another building which looked similar to the Fire Palace.

"This Thunder Palace. That way Fire Palace." A blue Oho Jee near the entrance said, pointing to the west with its foot.

"I learned the power of fire in the Fire Palace. That means one of us…probably you, Luigi, will probably learn the power of thunder in here, probably."

"Probably."

After raiding a Bros Block to the east, they entered a room through the west path after going down some ledges.

In the new room, there was a gate with some metal flooring in front of it. They ignored it, and walked east, reaching a gate without metal flooring. Mario hammered Luigi underground, and he tunnelled under the gate, popping out on the other side and entering the room to the north.

"You call me Oho Jee." A blue Oho Jee said as Luigi hopped up a ledge and walked up a staircase. "But I no know why…"

There was a stone slab with a thunder marking on it.

_You can't see thunder...you hear thunder._

Luigi hammered it to pieces to continue climbing up some stairs. The room flashed. Lightning struck in random places, scaring Luigi and causing him to cower. A lightning bolt struck the spot at the top of the second staircase, right before a glass ball with some wild electricity sparking inside it. As soon as the bolt disappeared, a spirit with a moon hat and white and blue clothes appeared.

"To you who have wandered into Thunder Palace…these are the training grounds for the chosen few. I know not how you found your way here, nor how you managed to enter this place…bit I have no business with you…and you have none with me. Depart, post-haste." The spirit said, making a shooing gesture before disappearing.

_Go on, touch that glass ball! You know you wanna!_

"But…the spirit said not to!"

_Come on, you know Mario did something like this, so why don't you?_

"He probably didn't have to make this choice, though!"

_If you're gonna just come all this way, just to come back to your bro with nothing new happening, that isn't going to be worth the time. Besides, I DOUBT you can even escape without touching that ball! It's a touch-touch situation! Go on, touch it!_

"Fine…" Luigi sighed, slowly approaching the ball and putting his hands on it. It shocked him…literally. Once the shock wore off, he held his hand into the air, and his hand sparked with electricity. The spirit came zapping back.

"CRRRACKITY!" the spirit boomed. "Wh-Who dares to touch the great Thunderhand spark?! Impertinent fool!"

Luigi was still holding his hand in the air, still charged by electricity.

"…and yet…you have touched the great Thunderhand spark, but still stand before me, so…perhaps you have the qualities needed to master the galvanic Thunderhand technique…" the spirit mused, then nodding. "Very well…I shall instruct you in the art of the Thunderhand."

Luigi stood to attention.

"Hold your position until you have charged up enough energy…then release the power! Only then shall you release a burst of thunder and lightning. Perhaps you should try it once."

Luigi copied the spirit perfectly…after about eight tries.

_Luigi mastered the Thunderhand!_

"Hmm! Very well done…it is wise to use this power when an apparent conductor of electricity is nearby. You have done it! It is done! You have released me!" the spirit cheered.

Luigi waited.

The spirit disappeared.

Luigi dropped down the ledges, back-tracking to the south-west, and entering the room through the path there. In that room, there was a small structure with a hole with a ball in it below a lightning mark. Luigi struck the ball with some lightning, charging up the ball and causing the gate from earlier to lower. Mario came running to the sound, to see Luigi.

Luigi showed Mario his new power, and explained what happened.

"Well, we've gotten what we probably need here, so let's go."

. . .

Back outside, Mario and Luigi were wondering about, thinking about what they should do next.

"Hey, there's a structure there with that ball from earlier!" Luigi pointed out, pointing at a structure with both a fire and lightning marking above an empty hole and a glass ball respectively.

"And I think that empty hole is for some fire!" Mario added.

They jumped up to the structure, and Mario shot a fireball at the empty hole, igniting it once more. Luigi struck the ball with lightning, charging it with electricity once more. Several stone platforms rose out of the water, forming a bridge to a yellow pipe leading underwater.

"Looks like we can now escape this place. Let's go!" Mario said, jumping into the pipe.

"OK!" Luigi responded cheerfully, diving into the pipe too, ignoring his doubts about it.


	24. You Can't See Thunder

**You see electricity, and you hear thunder. You can't hear electricity, and you can't see thunder. Or at least, that's what I've been taught years ago.**

* * *

Mario and Luigi - A Superstar Story

Chapter 24: You Can't See Thunder

Mario and Luigi fell through the yellow pipe, tumbling out of the other end into the ocean.

**Oho Ocean**

Mario and Luigi came shooting out of the yellow pipe, and rolled straight into the wall. The brothers got up, and looked around. They were underwater now. Mario signalled for them to head west, seeing as that was the only way to proceed.

In the next section, there were two bunches of coral blocking the way north, and to the left of the left bunch of coral, there was a fire burning in a hole in the wall nearby. There was a hole for the right side, next to the right bunch of coral, too, but it had no fire in it. Mario shot a fireball at it, and the hole now had a flame burning inside it, just like the left one. This triggered a chain reaction not visible to the Bros that caused the right bunch of coral to disappear.

"How does fire even burn underwater?" Luigi asked.

"Before you even ask about the fire…realize we're speaking, and we're underwater."

Luigi realized this, and yelped in shock, jaw now dropped.

"Don't question the logic, bro. If it weren't for the messed-up logic, we'd be stuck here because of the bunch of coral there." Mario patted his little brother on the back as they walked north.

Water suddenly bubbled at Luigi's feet, causing them both to stop in confusion. Suddenly, a Goomdiver clonked Luigi on the head, knocking him over. Mario dodged another one that came diving in, and kicked it away violently. He was about to go help Luigi up, but the Goomdiver he just kicked away jumped into a swim towards him, and the plumber readied his hammer. Just when it was about to pound him on the head, Mario swung, knocking the Goomdiver out of the park-, er, water.

"Home run!" Luigi cheered, only to get bounced on by the same Goomdiver that hit him earlier. Luigi sprung into action, giving Mario a signal they were going to perform Rally Bros. Luigi hammered Mario into Mini Mario, then smashed him at the Goomdiver, and the rebound sent Mario straight back to Luigi, who smashed it back at the Goomdiver, and its face was used once again to get a good rebound. This repeated a couple times, but when Mario went really high, Luigi spiked it down at the Goomdiver, destroying it.

"That was the biggest overkill I've seen since…I don't even know." Mario said as they trudged west a bit more.

They entered a large swimming section, full to the brim with Goomdivers. Mario and Luigi swam rapidly to the southwest part, somehow dodging everything there and staying above the sharp seaspikes in the pits.

In the much smaller section they reached after going a bit south, there was a jellyfish statue on a slightly higher ledge, with a wire leading to a wall near a gate that was closed. The gate had the classic Beanbean Kingdom logo…a happy face.

"Not sure how they got the wires down here, but I'll go with it." Luigi said, zapping the jellyfish statue with some electricity. This caused the head to start flopping about slowly, and the electricity went through the electric ball, into the wire, and into the wall, where it activated something not visible to the Bros and caused the Beanbean door to open, allowing the Bros to head into another large swimming section, with tons of Bloopers

Mario decided to be a daredevil, and swim through the faster but riskier path along the northern side, dodging the Bloopers and staying above the seaspikes. He landed perfectly on the northwest exit, and waited for Luigi, who went around the loooooooong, but safe way, heading clock-wise along the walls till he reached the northwest exit, where Mario was waiting. Now that they were both there, the duo continued north.

In the next section, there were five holes in the wall at the north side, with a button on a nearby wall. Bunches of coral were blocking the two from progressing. Mario hammered the button, causing another chain reaction not visible to the Bros to take place. The first hole flashed with fire, then the fourth, then the third, then the fifth and finally the second.

"We're probably going to have to light those holes in that order." Mario realized after a brief silence, then swimming over to the holes and lighting them in the order that was displayed earlier. Doing this caused the yellow bunch of coral in the southwest part to disappear, allowing the Bros some progression to the south.

In the next section, there were some Goomdivers and Bloopers hanging about. The group manoeuvred their way through the enemies, managing to avoid any extra battles and headed to the west, where a yellow pipe was. Mario and Luigi entered it, and had their backs to each other, touching. They both put both their feet on the wall of the pipe at the same time, and walked up in unison.

. . .

**Meanwhile, Near the Border…**

Bowser was on the floor, battered, bruised and beaten. He could barely move. Then, some figures were walking into sight. Fawful struggled towards the pile of knocked out turtle, and once before him, he stopped.

"O…G-Great…Ca-Cackletta…" he whispered, voice dry and raspy. "W-Will this guy…do?"

"Any…Anyone will do now…Hurry…Quickly…" Cackletta, who was still in Fawful's headgear begged.

Fawful's headgear opened its mouth, allowing Cackletta to be unleashed from the headgear. She drifted towards Bowser, and swarmed his face. The Koopa stretched its arms and legs out in shock, and opened his mouth, yelping. His shell started flashing red and green…and then…HER SICKLY PURPLE EYES OPENED. She blinked, then shot a burst of fire upwards, cackling.

. . .

**East Beanbean**

Mario and Luigi popped out of the yellow pipe, now aboveground again. There was a button on a hedge nearby, and Mario whacked it out of instinct. This caused a gate locking them in here to lower, and allowing them to escape. They walked out of the small area, and Luigi spotted Prince Peasley flying towards them on his pillow. Luigi waved with his hat. Prince Peasley came to a smooth stop before the Bros. Mario quickly put on some sunglasses.

"I have searched high and low for you two! I feared that you'd met a terrible fate!" Prince Peasley started.

Luigi explained what had happened to them (which was basically the whole of Chapter 22), and Prince Peasley nodded, storing the information.

"Yes…It is true. The Beanstar split into four pieces. They have scattered. It is sad, really…"

"Don't worry, we can help find those pieces!" Mario said.

"Yeah, we're used to this kind of thing!" Luigi agreed.

"What? You say you'll help me search for the Beanstar pieces?" Prince Peasley asked, watching Mario and Luigi nod enthusiastically. "Of course, I would be most appreciative…but actually, I'd like you two to go to Beanbean Airport."

"Why?" Luigi asked.

"Heh heh heh…You see…Princess Peach is blessing our fair land with her presence!"

"WHAT?!" Mario and Luigi gasped.

"A dignitary of Princess Peach's stature visiting our kingdom is a very serious affair. And THAT is why I would like you two in attendance to greet Her Royal Loveliness. As such, you must head for Beanbean Airport immediately!" Prince Peasley explained. "Well, by the by, Beanbean Airport is south of Beanbean Castle. I must head there myself immediately, so I'll see you there!"

Prince Peasley flew off.

"This…is going to be interesting, to say the least." Mario said, taking off sunglasses. "And he didn't flash the area for once…but I had my sunglasses ready and everything…"

Luigi nodded, and they started walking towards Beanbean Castle Town.

**Beanbean Castle Town**

They headed into the west side, then into Starbucks Café for a quick drink.

"One Teehee Blend." Mario said, handing the Bean at the desk 25 Hee Beans. He took the beans in the form of small bag, and poured them into the blending machine. Orange juice poured out into the cup below the pipe's end.

"One Teehee Blend, ready to go!" he yelled, handing Mario a Teehee Blend.

"Once again I've come from afar because of the scent of a new kind of bean juice!" Professor E Gadd shouted, riding in on what may be a Poltergust 3000.

"Oh! Hey, Boss! What's with that weird vacuum?" the Bean at the desk asked.

"This is a highly improved model of the Poltergust 3000…It's the Super Poltergust 3001! If you've just got to know the improvements I've made…" Professor E Gadd rode back and forth past the Bros, stopping after a while. "It can now be ridden like this! And it's incredibly speedy!"

Professor E Gadd revved it up, and it floated quite high into the air. Then its blasters turned on, and he rocketed around the room, then stopping near the Bros once again.

"With this, now I can go anywhere I want with ease." E Gadd jumped off the Super Poltergust 3001, and approached Mario. "Now then, might I have a quick sampling of this new drink?"

"Sure." Mario said, handing him the cup. The Professor sipped a bit, and oohed.

"Mmmm…my body and soul are melting into the syrupy sweetness! I'd better not drink more or else, I, too, might become a ghost." E Gadd said, handing Mario the cup again. "Thanks for that sampling. Here's a little something I invented in my spare time. Maybe it'll aid you."

He handed Mario a red spring…known as the Excite Spring.

"What shall I invent next?"

"A triangle!" Luigi shouted as Professor E Gadd sped off on the Super Poltergust 3001.

"Do you want to continue with the StarB System?"

"Can we, bro? I'm actually thirsty too."

"Righto! Then show me the beans you've collected! What's your order?"

"Can I have a…" Luigi started looking at the menu. "…Teeheespresso."

Luigi gave the Bean 15 Woo Beans and 10 Hee Beans in a bag, and he poured it into the blender. Purple juice came out into the cup at the bottom.

"One Teeheespresso, ready to go!" he said. Luigi took the cup.

The lights went dark again. Noises were heard from unknown sources.

"Oh? That noise! Not ghosts again?" the Bean asked, causing Luigi to yelp at hearing the word ghost.

Suddenly, a giant Game Boy came falling into the room. The screen flickered on, and E Gadd was now on the screen.

"…No, no! This time I've chosen a slightly different way of making my entrance."

"I wonder if Pokémon FireRed is in that thing." Luigi wondered.

"That's definitely not a slightly different way. That's a completely different way to make an entrance."

The Bean at the desk just made a puzzled face.

"Hmm? What? Well, just showing up the same way over and over gets old after a while. Besides, don't video conferences feel futuristic and cool?"

"…well, if you came on a handheld with dual screens, then maybe that would feel a bit more futuristic, but I have to say, this is pretty cool." Mario stated.

"So, you're not going to try out our new drink this time, Boss?"

"Oh, don't worry! I've sent a representative to taste it in my stead! He should be arriving soon."

"A representative?" the Bean asked.

Just then, a blue ghost came floating in, and screeched, raising its arms to look more menacing. He lowered them, then waited. Luigi instantly crouched into a ball and faced the desk.

"Don't worry. He's a harmless, friendly little ghost. Please allow him to taste that new drink…"

Mario took the drink from Luigi's possession, and handed it to the ghost quite calmly. The ghost sipped it, and his face lit up in joy, and he ascended into the air…disappearing.

"Oh! Mercy! It seems to have been just heavenly." E Gadd realized.

Once Luigi thought the ghost wasn't there anymore, he heard something drop next to him. He looked, to find a triangle.

"Thanks for that sampling. Here's a little something I invented in my spare time. Maybe it'll aid you…since you did request a triangle. This is the Great Force. It doubles the amount of damage you give…and take."

"Sounds a bit risky." Mario said as Luigi picked the Great Force up.

"Well, I did have to balance it out somehow, otherwise it would be dangerously unstable."

Luigi yelped, and threw it to the floor.

"Don't worry, me balancing it out makes it stable, so it's safe to use if you need to. Oh, and next time, I'll come in person." E Gadd promised, then the screen flashed, turned off, and the Game Boy floated out of sight. The lights went back on. Luigi picked up the Great Force once more, and put it in the suitcase.

"Um…since that ghost ascended away with your drink, Luigi, how about I make you another Teeheespresso?" the Bean asked, Luigi nodding. He walked over to the blender, and turned it on again. Purple juice came out, just enough to fill a good deal of the cup. "Looks like we lucked out…there was still some juice in there. If there wasn't, you'd have to go find some more beans. Anyway, here ya go."

The Bean handed Luigi his drink, and the Bros left Starbucks Café, and Castle Town. They made their way to South Beanbean, and saw a pair of electric balls…except they weren't charged. With a flick of the wrist, Luigi struck them both with lightning.

"I'm getting used to this quite quickly." Luigi said as a bridge popped in out of nowhere, allowing them to enter the Airport.

**Beanbean Airport**

Mario drank his Teehee Blend, which was rumored to improve one's stache. Luigi drank his Teeheespresso, which was rumored to improve a random quality of a person. Luigi felt a bit more resistant to damage. Once they had their drinks, they started talking to the Beans there.

"The plane carrying Princess Peach seems to be late."

_The plane is late!_

"Did anyone else hear that?" Mario asked.

"Did you by chance hear a voice?" Luigi asked.

"I recall hearing someone mention a plane." The Bean recalled.

"I wonder why Princess Peach is coming to the Beanbean Kingdom." A Bean nearby said aloud.

"Especially in her current state. I don't even know what we're gonna do about that. Peach has that explosive vocabulary, and her actual voice's location is unknown. We're pretty much screwed at this point." Mario thought to himself, only for those thoughts to be interrupting my a panting Bean.

"Mario…Luigi…Lady Lima is calling for you. Please go to the runway up ahead."

"OK, sure." Mario answered. "Ready to go, bro?"

"Of course, bro."

They walked into the runway, where Lady Lima was waiting…


	25. Peach Be Scheming

**Apparently I left out a scene because I had to rewrite this due to the computer dying and me losing work. Kudos to Mike in the reviews for reminding me about this and allowing me to rewrite it into this chapter again.**

* * *

Mario and Luigi - A Superstar Story

Chapter 25: Peach Be Scheming

"Oh!" Lady Lima gasped as Mario and Luigi approached her on runway. "Masters Mario and Luigi! Queen Bean was most pleased by your efforts at the Hooniversity! By the way…There has been a slightly hiccup in our plans to welcome Princess Peach."

"I had a feeling something like this would happen." Mario sighed.

"You see, nasty Piranha Plants have dug their roots into this runway. Her airplane can't land!"

Luigi noticed some Piranha Plants on the runway, cried out, and tackled the second one out of the two. He kept trying to pull its stem out, but the Piranha Plant was stuck firmly into the ground. Mario turned his gaze to the Piranha Plants, then back to Lady Lima.

"How come this wasn't fixed earlier?" Mario asked.

"Hmm? What? You want to know why repairs haven't been made?" Lady Lima asked, receiving a nod in return. "Well, with the Cackletta incident, it didn't seem to be a priority…But, enough about that! You must do something about these disgusting Piranha Plants!"

Mario glanced at Luigi to find he was sipping a cup of something. He then returned his gaze to Lady Lima.

"…For the sake of the princess! You can't refuse, can you?"

"To be honest, I wouldn't even need to be convinced to help people. I do it naturally. It's the right thing to do."

"Well, then! Show me the Mario Bros work ethic I've heard so much about!" Lady Lima yelled, then backed off from the runway.

"That sounds so familiar…"

. . .

_Lady Lima took out a remote, and pressed a button. A trapdoor opened up below the Bros' feet, and they fell in._

_. . ._

_Mario landed down on the floor...on his face, just like Luigi. They seemed to be in the sewers._

_"Hear my words!" Lady Lima called as she lowered herself on a rope within sight of the Bros. "If you two are indeed the true Mario Bros, you must prove it by repairing the castle's plumbing! If you are able to completely fix it, then you may meet Queen Bean! Now then, show me the work ethic of the superstar Mario Bros!"_

. . .

"Yeah, I've definitely heard something like that before."

Mario jumped to get Luigi's attention, then they started to try and think up a plan to remove these Piranha Plants.

"How about we just fight them? That always works." Luigi suggested.

"Even if you beat these Piranha Plants in battle, the roots sprout new plants almost immediately! We've been looking forever for some other way to defeat them…"

"We may as well try fighting a couple, just to see what happens, then." Luigi charged at the first Piranha Plant. It noticed his presence, and spat a fireball at him, winding the plumber. Mario jumped, and smashed the red Piranha Plant with his hammer, but nearly got his face bitten off.

"So you wanna play with fire, huh?" Luigi asked, getting up and pointing at the Piranha Plant. It chomped cheerfully. "Well, let's bring some thunder into the party!"

Luigi snapped his fingers, and a powerful lightning bolt struck…the grass. Mario fell to the floor in shock. Sparks came flying from the grass, and some of them struck the plant, defeating it.

"Not what I had in mind…but it worked anyway." Luigi sheepishly grinned.

"Luigi! Look out!" Mario called.

Luigi jumped over a fireball in the nick of time.

"Bro, why don't you try using fire?" Luigi asked.

Mario threw a fireball at the Piranha Plant who attacked Luigi. The Piranha Plant ate the fireball, and looked healthier.

Luigi then snapped his fingers once more, hoping he would actually strike the Piranha Plant this time. Thunder boomed, and struck the Piranha Plant perfectly, destroying it in one blow.

As the Bros started to walk off to deal with the rest of the Piranha Plants, they suddenly heard something sprout, and repetitive chomping. They looked back, and saw BOTH Piranha Plants had come back. They decided on just scanning the area to find out how many Piranha Plants they had to deal with first, and started running to the west, passing a MASSIVE pink egg, and three more Piranha Plants. They also passed two giant water containers, and there was one where they entered the runway that they had already pass, so there were actually three.

"Hello old-timer, could you give us some advice on getting rid of these Piranha Plants?" Luigi asked a Bean wandering around the giant water dispenser on the west side of the runway.

"As a botanist, I must say I am quite interested in these Piranha Plants, loathsome as they may be. Water can be easily extracted from the petals of the Piranha Plant. Did you know that?" the Bean asked, pausing for a split second before continuing to speak. "It's true. The plants are said to hide below-ground so as not to be shocked by lightning when wet."

"Did you hear that, bro? We should make them really wet, then shock 'em!" Luigi said, looking around for his bro, who came waddling back to him, stuffed with water. He pointed at the Piranha Plant nearby, and signalled for Luigi to hammer him.

Luigi nodded, and smashed Mario on the head with his hammer, and a blast of water hit the Piranha Plant, causing it to swell up and turn blue. Luigi smashed the rest of the water out of Mario, then zapped the Piranha Plant. It sparked, then disappeared. There was a loud crack. Mario and Luigi didn't hear it, though.

They repeated this with the other Piranha Plant in this area, and there was another loud crack, which this time, Luigi heard…but barely.

"Bro, did you hear something?" Luigi asked.

"Nope. Why?"

"No reason."

They headed into the middle section of the runway, and Mario drank from the giant water dispenser there, and they dealt with the only Piranha Plant there the same way as the first two. There was another loud crack. Mario and Luigi looked in the direction of the possible source of the crack, and noticed the massive pink egg had some cracks in it, and two of five roots were still in the ground.

"I don't exactly want to see what's in there." Luigi said as he watched Mario pass the last two Piranha Plants and drink from the water dispenser in the east side of the runway. He waddled back to Luigi, and they repeated the same process with the first of the two Piranha Plants. There was an even louder crack. When they did the same thing with the last Piranha Plant…there was a massive crack.

"ROOOAR!"

Luigi froze…and turned blue. Mario knew where the sound came from, since they just passed it, and picked up Luigi. He walked over to the pink egg's location, and there was no longer a pink egg…and instead, there was a massive female red Piranha Plant, otherwise known as a Mom Piranha (or as I'd like to and probably will call it, Mama Piranha).

Mario set Luigi down, and started charging at Mama Piranha. Suddenly, two red Piranha Plants popped out of the ground, and both spat a fireball at Mario. He was blasted backwards, and struggled back to his feet. Luigi woke up from his fear, and the situation he was now in sunk in quite nicely, as he didn't freeze up again.

"These guys think they're such big hot-shots. Bah, I'd show them if fire didn't heal them." Mario grumbled, signalling Luigi for Burrow Bros. Luigi nodded, and was smashed into the ground. He quickly tunnelled to in front of Mama Piranha as Mario jumped there, and went under the plant. He popped out of the ground, ripping Mama Piranha away from her roots and into the air.

Mario swiftly hammered Luigi back in, then the green plumber popped out when Mama Piranha touched the ground again, and he was smashed back into the ground again, to do it once more before retreating. Both Piranha Plants looked vexed, and spat a fireball at the bro in front of them, then at the bro they weren't facing, then at the one they were facing, all of the fireballs being jumped over.

Mama Piranha, now free from her tangle with the roots moved over to the Bros, and swiped a vine back and forth, scraping Luigi both times. Mama Piranha backed off after two swipes. Somehow, she seemed a bit healthier after a short silence. Luigi snapped his fingers, and lightning struck one of the Piranha Plants, knocking it out instantly. The other one decided to avenge his friend, and shot Luigi with a fireball.

Mario jumped at Mama Piranha and smashed her large, sharp, white teeth with his hammer, hardly even scratching them, yet Mama Piranha looked like she felt the pain. The Piranha Plant spat a fireball at Mario, but it went off-course by a mile. It then spat one at Luigi, then finally managed to hit Mario. Mama Piranha looked a bit healthier again after a blue Piranha Plant showed up.

Luigi snapped his fingers, and a lightning bolt struck the red Piranha Plant, zapping it and causing it to turn into ashes. The blue Piranha Plant spat an electric ball at Mario, but the plumber ducked and it went right over his head. Mario charged up a fireball, and chucked it at the blue Piranha Plant. The fireball struck the plant perfectly, and it burned to ashes.

Mama Piranha reached inside her mouth with her vines, and picked up a massive energy ball, then taking it out of her mouth and chucking it at the Bros in a high arc. Luigi tried to stop it with lightning and thunder, but the energy ball was too powerful, and just absorbed the attack, and grew even bigger. Mario tried throwing a fireball at it, but it absorbed it just like Luigi's thunder.

It looked nearly twice the original size, and it was MASSIVE to begin with. As a last-ditch attempt, Mario leaped into the air and tried with all his might to kick it back at Mama Piranha, or at least absorb the blow so Luigi didn't get hurt…and a large explosion was created. Mario was smashed into the ground by the energy ball, now knocked out. Luigi was knocked over from the explosion, but was barely scratched.

"B-b-bro..."

Luigi wiped away his tears, then snapped his fingers. They were suddenly charged with some wild electricity, and Luigi ran at Mama Piranha. He back-flipped into the air, and blasted some lightning at Mama. Luigi landed on the ground, and punched Mama with an lightning-infused punch. He finally violently zapped Mama Piranha up-close with some lightning, and there was an opening. Mama tried to sweep Luigi off his feet, but Luigi had jumped out of range before she even lifted a vine.

"One of the few times when I get to adventure with my brother, a giant Piranha Plant ruins it! I'm always left at home on adventures, but the one time Mario takes me with him on one, you go ahead and blast him with a giant energy ball!" Luigi started to float into the air, and was charging up a very menacing looking blast. He cried out, and blasted Mama Piranha with it. She cried out in pain. Luigi viciously kicked Mama, then gave her another hard punch. He backed off, dodging a vine attack.

Luigi made another sprint for Mama, but a red Piranha Plant popped out of the ground, startling him, then a blue one appeared too, nearly chomping his head off. Luigi zapped the red one, destroying it in one blow. The blue Piranha Plant saw this happen, and for its friend, it blasted Luigi with an electric ball. It opened its mouth once again to blast Luigi again, but was silenced with a zap of the finger.

Yet another pair of both kinds of Piranha Plant shot out of the ground as soon as Mario finished off the last one. Luigi engulfed himself in lightning, and rushed at Mama Piranha, grabbing the attention of the Piranha Plants. They both shot at Luigi, but he smashed into both of them on the way to Mama, and ripped both of them from their roots, throwing them on the floor and zapping them to ashes before continuing at Mama Piranha.

Mama Piranha took out another energy ball from the insides of her mouth, and chucked it at Luigi. In the corner of his eye, he could see Mario move a bit. Luigi raised his hand to signal him to stop.

"I can see how exhausted you are. I don't want my bro to go through any more pain to protect me. I need to take care of myself…" Luigi said, jumping into the air, and smashing the energy ball back at Mama Piranha with his hammer. Mario gaped at this, and once he struggled to his feet, gave his bro a thumbs-up.

The energy ball struck Mama Piranha in the face, and caused her to droop and turn crimson-red, then spitting out Spiny Badge A, which Luigi picked up.

_Mario levelled up to Level 19! Mario got an extra +3BP!_

_Luigi levelled up to Level 19! Luigi got an extra +4HP!_

Mama shrunk to a miniature size, and Luigi took the opportunity to finish her off in style…by sitting on her. That seemed to do the trick, so the Bros did some victory poses, then headed back to Lady Lima.

"Well done, Mario Bros!" Lady Lima praised.

"Don't praise me. Praise my brother. He's the one who destroyed the Piranha Plants, for the most part, single-handedly." Mario said. Luigi was staring at the badge.

"Ah, well done, Luigi!" Lady Lima praised. "Now we can welcome Princess Peach to our fair kingdom!"

The runway lights started to flash red, and a pink plane with several Princess Peach logos and white lines landed smoothly on the cleared runway.

Princess Peach had arrived.

**Beanbean Castle Court Gardens**

Mario and Luigi were chatting with some Beans in the middle of the garden while waiting for stuff to happen.

"Hush, everyone!" Lady Lima ordered. "Princess Peach, representative of the Mushroom Kingdom, brings greetings!"

Princess Peach walked around the hedge she was hiding behind, and stopped a fair distance away from the Bros. Toadsworth was watching. The Beans were at each side of the Bros. Peach walked closer to the Bros, and opened her mouth.

Mario yelped, and Luigi dived behind Mario for protection, keeping his hat over his eyes so he wouldn't see the mayhem that was about to take place.

"Mario! Luigi!" Peach cried. Mario and Luigi froze on the spot. "Mario! Luigi! Thank you so much for all you've done. I am so relieved that the two of you are safe."

Mario and Luigi were shocked beyond belief. The look on their faces was priceless, and caused Peach to giggle.

"Oh ho ho ho ho ho ho!" Toadsworth chuckled. "Oh, terribly amusing! Yes. Come now, don't be so startled! You see…I must tell you…Princess Peach's voice…was never stolen!"

Prince Peasley walked around the hedge Peach was behind, and waved his finger.

"I knew Cackletta was after the royal voice, so I beat them to the castle and warned the princess with a letter." He said rather proudly, waving about a letter.

. . .

_It was a fine day in the Mushroom Kingdom. The Goodwill Ambassador from Beanbean Kingdom has arrived. Toads were lined up at each side of the carpet leading to Princess Peach's throne. __**Sounds were heard from one of the pillars near the carpet's end, followed by a female voice saying "Quiet! They'll hear us!" but no one took notice of the sounds.**_

_The Ambassador was a Bean (a green creature from the Beanbean Kingdom) in yellow clothing, with a grin and a somewhat long nose. He was followed by a smaller bean, face covered by a chest he was holding. He was dressed in the same garb._

_"I wish to improve my kingdom's ties with the Mushroom Kingdom." The Ambassador started. "I bring a gift from Queen Bean." The Ambassador finished as he bowed to Princess Peach. His follower approaching Peach, and allowing the chest to open. It revealed a doll with a green face and purple clothing on a spring. It quickly bounced up, and sprayed a foul colour changing gas cloud at Peach's face. She coughed as it covered her whole upper body._

_"Eeeyah ha ha ha ha!" The Ambassador cackled, revealing herself as some kind of witch. She was wearing a cape with a purple outside, and a black inside. She wore a dress which was pink and ended in yellow, and had two purple things, which appeared to be ears. She raised her hands in the air, causing lightening to crash indoors, instantly making the Toads freak out and flee while the chest her follower was holding packed up and closed itself. Suddenly the walls turned into a constantly shifting rainbow colour. The follower revealed himself to be a grinning smaller bean, wearing a red cloth and circular glasses. Peach continued to cough in the gas cloud until a kind of headgear with two gray mini-jet packs on the sides, and a yellow/red vacuum on the top sucked up the gas cloud after landing on the witch's minion's head. The witch couldn't help but grin evilly at her handiwork. Once the gas cloud cleared up, Peach could be revealed to look exactly the same, but was waving her hand to try and blow away the gas, and using her other hand to cover her mouth. Seconds later, she slowed down and collapsed._

_"Eeeyah ha ha ha ha!" was all that was heard as the witch and her minion laughed briefly, and they flew off (the minion using his headgear, and the witch using a rocket rocking chair to fly off) into the clouds._

. . .

"THIS was the Princess Peach whose voice was stolen!" Prince Peasley pointed at a second Peach walking out from behind the hedge the prince stood before. The Peach took her clothes off to reveal she was none other than Birdo.

"And THAT is why the Beanstar reacted so strangely to her voice!"

"But wouldn't her voice be gone now?" Luigi asked.

"Not at all! We had prepared a sample of her voice that we extracted beforehand! Kudos to that owner Starbeans Café who happened to be a professor for building the thing, if it weren't for him, Birdo here would be voiceless. We put the sample back in, and it multiplied in her body and she regained her less explosive, preferred vocabulary."

Birdo did a few flirty poses to the Beans nearby, and then proceeded to chase them around as they ran for their lives, screaming their heads off.

"As you can see, every card in our hand was truly better than theirs." Queen Bean chuckled.

"Mario…Luigi…I am sorry to have caused you such trouble." Peach apologized. "When the pair of you came rushing to the castle…I intended to tell you the truth immediately, but Bowser beat you there…and I lost my chance to spill the beans…so to speak…"

Queen Bean walked out from behind the bush.

"But you defeated Cackletta nonetheless!" Toadsworth cheered optimistically. "And that is something to be congratulated for!"

Mario and Luigi praised themselves for once.

**Beanbean Castle Entrance Room**

"…By the way, there's no sign of what's left of the Beanstar…it apparently broke into four pieces, which seem to be lost…and so, I am off yet again! I must sally forth to look for the pieces of the Beanstar!" Prince Peasley explained.

"You sure you want us to relax? I don't mind looking for the pieces, too, you know." Mario offered.

"You two should relax here and enjoy some sightseeing in our kingdom with fair Princess Peach." Prince Peasley advised, then flashed the area before leaving the castle. Luigi waved with his hat goodbye, and they started to walk back to Queen Bean and the others.

Once they got back to Queen Bean's throne room, Toadsworth noticed them as soon as they stopped walking.

"Oh, Masters Mario and Luigi…Spot-on timing…" Toadsworth said.

"Mario, Luigi…I was just speaking with Queen Bean…" Peach started. "She tells me there is a mushroom town in Beanbean Kingdom called Little Fungitown. Do you know of it?"

Mario and Luigi shook their heads.

"It is a town full of Toads who have immigrated to this land." Toadsworth explained.

"Since we have come all the way to this land, I wish to pay an official royal visit to Little Fungitown…" Peach continued.

"That's acceptable in theory, but to reach Little Fungitown you must go north through Teehee Valley…" Queen Bean chimed in. "Teehee Valley is filled with vile monsters. It would be a little…No! VERY dangerous for Princess Peach."

"As the royal representative of the senior Toads, I must vigorously oppose this idea!" Toadsworth agreed, now steaming-red and waving his walking stick around wildly. "Passing through unknown lands filled with monsters is absolutely absurd! Why, the very idea…Koh-hoff! Ah-hem! …And yet…I suppose if Mario and Luigi escorted you…"

"Mario. Luigi. Since we seem to have come to a consensus…won't you take me to…Little Fungitown?" Princess Peach asked.

Mario nodded out of kindness, but Luigi shook his head out of fear. Mario gasped when he noticed, then smashed Luigi into the ground, then resumed to the nodding of the head.

"Will that do, Toadsworth?" Peach asked.

"As if I have any say in the matter! Just by very, very, very, very, very, very, very, VERY careful." Toadsworth warned. "I must begin preparations immediately. Mario, you and Luigi should meet us up north, at the entrance to Teehee Valley."

"…And with that, please allow me to excuse myself, Queen Bean." Peach did a curtsey, then followed Toadsworth out of the room, neither of them stepping on where Luigi was underground.

"…Your princess is not only beautiful, but both wise and courageous, as well. I am severely impressed!" Queen Bean said. "Mario! Luigi! We have entrusted Princess Peach's safekeeping to the two of you! Leave the castle town and head northeast to reach Teehee Valley."

Luigi popped out of the ground at last.

"So, how about we make our own preparations?" Luigi asked.


	26. Hammer Time VII

Mario and Luigi - A Superstar Story

Chapter 26: Hammer Time VII

**Beanbean Castle Town - West Side - Starbucks Café**

Mario handed the Bean at the counter 15 Woo Beans and 10 Chuckle Beans in a bag, and he poured them into the juicer. Pink juice came slurping out of the pipe into a cup.

"One Chuckoccino, ready to go!" he called, handing Mario the cup. The lights went dark, and a giant Game Boy Horror landed beside the counter. The black and white screen then showed E Gadd.

"…Ho ho ho! Surprise! Yet another video conference!" the Professor said.

"Hiya, Boss! But weren't you supposed to be here in person this time?"

. . .

_ "Thanks for that sampling. Here's a little something I invented in my spare time. Maybe it'll aid you…since you did request a triangle. This is the Great Force. It doubles the amount of damage you give…and take."_

_"Sounds a bit risky." Mario said as Luigi picked the Great Force up._

_"Well, I did have to balance it out somehow, otherwise it would be dangerously unstable."_

_Luigi yelped, and threw it to the floor._

_"Don't worry, me balancing it out makes it stable, so it's safe to use if you need to. Oh, and next time, I'll come in person." E Gadd promised, then the screen flashed, turned off, and the Game Boy floated out of sight. The lights went back on. Luigi picked up the Great Force once more, and put it in the suitcase._

. . .

"Promises are made to be broken. I'm too busy with my research."

"D-Don't tell me you're sending another representative!" the Bean cried, Luigi then turning blue.

"Ho ho ho..." E. Gadd chuckled. "No, there's no need for that. Listen here. This brand-new Game Boy Horror boasts a new warping capability!"

Mario and Luigi gasped.

"Just bring the new bean juice and place it before the monitor."

Mario walked over, and held the coffee high into the air. E Gadd picked up a device, and it sucked the coffee into the screen, and it appeared beside E. Gadd.

"Ho ho! The warp was successful!"

He took a sip of it, then oohed.

"Oh! Another mind-numbingly deep flavor!" E. Gadd cried. A metallic-looking glove dropped out of nowhere, landing before the Bros. "Thanks for that sampling. Here's a little something I invented in my spare time. Maybe it'll aid you."

Mario nodded, and picked it up.

"This is the Power Grip. It helps you hold heavy objects like hammers with ease. While it may look heavy itself, it's designed to be quite light. I hope you find use of it. Next time, I really will be there in person."

The Bean at the counter prepped another Chuckoccino (as E. Gadd still had his, and there was some left in the juicer), and handed it to Mario. Luigi went along and ordered twp Hoolumbians, then giving him 15 Woo Beans and 10 Hoo Beans. White juice came out this time. After Luigi received the drinks, the lights went dark.

"Well, here I am…in the flesh! It's been quite a while since I've seen you all here." E Gadd said, strolling inside in a blue coat, somewhat transparent.

"Oh! Hey, Boss!" the Bean said, then noticing how ghostly he looked. "Whoa! Your shadow Is looking pretty thin, there…you haven't been sick, have you?"

"No, no, no!" E Gadd jumped. "I'm just testing my latest invention: a gown that lets anybody become a ghost. By wearing this gown, you can become a ghost anytime, anyplace, anywhere you want!"

"So, you've finally become a ghost yourself, eh, Boss?"

Luigi started cowering, facing the desk and crouching.

"Yep. And while I may be a ghost, I can still taste new drinks."

Mario took one of the drinks from Luigi, and handed it to E. Gadd, who sipped it.

"Hmm…this is a mysteriously dim, short-lived flavor…it's just the kind of bean juice that'll attract the long-overlooked market of after-lifers!"

E. Gadd stepped before the Bros, causing Luigi to sprint away like a bullet.

"Thanks for that sampling. Here's a little something I invented in my spare time. Maybe it'll aid you." E. Gadd thanked, handing Mario a necktie. "This, is the Cobalt Necktie. It doubles how nice your Staches are. Neckties go well with Staches!"

Luigi came walking back, with the Poltergust 3000. He pointed it at the Professor, who sweat-dropped. The plumber flicked on the machine, and sucked E. Gadd inside, startling Mario.

"Heeeeeeeeeee!"

**Beanbean Castle Town - West Side - Gear Shop**

Mario and Luigi ended up swapping drinks because they didn't like the way theirs tasted. Mario finished his Hoolumbian, and felt stronger. Luigi finished his Chuckoccino, and felt sturdier. Mario put the Excite Springs on his shoes, and Luigi put the Power Grip on. Mario spotted some super-cool trousers, and instantly bought them for 234 coins. Luigi liked the look of some trousers with a #1 on them, and bought those for 195 coins. Luigi saw a nice looking badge with a picture of people bro-balling on it, and bought that too for 117 coins. They then left the shop.

**Beanbean Castle Town - West Side - Item Shop**

Mario bought 15 jars of Syrup, and left.

**Teehee Valley Entrance**

There was a rock there. Mario smashed it with his hammer. Cracks formed in it. Mario whistled, then suggested they go look for a way to get past.

**North-East Beanbean**

There was a gate activated via electricity being zapped into a ball nearby. Luigi zapped it, and after dodging some Sharpeas falling out of the sky, they found a cave.

**Beanbean Outskirts East Cave**

After they tumbled down some ledges, they rolled into a large area, where Sledge and Mallet were standing. This area looked similar to their place in Hoohoo Village. The ruckus caused the two of them to glance at the Bros.

"Whoa! I was wonderin' who that might be! It's the good ol' Mario Bros!" Mallet cried.

"How have you guys been doin'? We moved out this way recently! This new place is bigger than the old one, which makes it easier for us to do our work! Which is good. Say, are those Hammers we made for you strikin' mighty blows?" Sledge asked.

"Well, there's this rock, and these hammers can't break it." Mario said, holding his somewhat broken hammer with cracks in it. Mallet winced.

"Sounds like a hard rock. Well, how 'bout we reforge 'em and power 'em up for you? What do you say? It's free!"

"Sure!" the Bros said in unison.

Mallet took the hammers, and placed them on the anvil.

"Great! We'll have these back to you in just a sec'." Sledge said.

After some intense hammering, the hammers were reforged into a stronger, greyer hammer.

"All right! They're ready!" Mallet cried, handing the Bros the hammers.

"And they're more powerful than ever! POW! POW!" Sledge hammered the ground with both hammers. The hammers weren't even scratched. He then handed them to the Bros, and they held them in awe.

"Now you oughta be able to break rocks you couldn't break before, like that one rock you were talking about! Go ahead and test out the strength of those bad boys!"

"Come back here again after a while! You never know…we might be able to forge your Hammers again to make 'em even stronger!"

Mario noticed an area to the east, a bridge blocked by a rock similar to the one from earlier. Mario smashed it, and it fell into bits. Mario led Luigi over the bridge to a rock blocking a little room, where a Thwomp was sitting there.

"I am Thwomp, and I love a good game! Test your luck for a mere 200 coins! Are you guys ready to show me the mightiest swing you've got?"

Mario nodded, paid up, and three rocks fell, separated by a wall. Mario hammered the left one, and there was a bag with 300 coins inside. They high-fived each other, and had another go, getting another bag with 300 coins inside. They tried once again, getting another bag. They tried once more, and found a red scroll.

Mario read it.

_Young grasshoppah, if you are reading this, you are willing to learn a secret and deadly Bros Move. Read onwards, brave one!_

_The Swing Bros, the technique of trust! Let your brother charge into you, and spin them like a tornado. When you feel you've targeted your target, release them. They must trust your judgement, or else the move will fail. If you trust each other, you WILL hit your mark with great force. This move requires practice._

_The Master_

Mario understood it, then explained it to Luigi. They nodded, and left the whole area entirely. Once outside again, Mario smirked as a nearby Sharpea was eating the lush green grass.

. . .

_"Luigi, look! Enemies!" Mario whispered as he pointed at a Sharpea, which looked a lot like a Spiny. "You know what this means?"_

_"Erm, no."_

_"IT'S. HAMMER. TIME." Mario said while wearing shades._

. . .

"Luigi. There's some enemies here. You know what this means?" Mario asked.

Luigi thought for a moment, then smirked too.

"Yes."

"IT'S. HAMMER. TIME." The Bros said in unison, both wearing shades. Seconds later, they smashed into the Sharpea, sending it flying. They tore through the grounds, wrecking any Sharpea that got in their way apart. They made a mad dash for the rock blocking the entrance to Teehee Valley, when they heard a voice.

"I can't let you do that, Star Fox." A Tanoomba said.

"Wait, what?" Mario asked. "You're talking to the wrong people, ya silly Tanoomba."

"Hmph, either way, that valley is staying blocked out, as you clearly don't like that."

Mario and Luigi readied their bodies.

"You may have kicked our butts last time, but we were weak, then! We're much stronger, now!" Mario shouted.

. . .

_After taking out the other two Sworms, they decided to go east._

_. . ._

_"That was terrible!" Luigi cried, panting heavily. "We were nearly killed out there!"_

_"Those things are dangerous! They were doing all kinds of mumbo jumbo!" Mario added, panting too. "Let's just go south instead. I don't want to go back there for a while."_

_So the Bros walked south instead, finally recovering from what took place in the east._

. . .

"Hah, hah, good times." The Tanoomba recalled, closing his eyes for a brief second. Unfortunately for it, Luigi was all up his face in seconds. He punched the Tanoomba in the face with an electric-charged punch, and it rolled back in shock. "Back-up! Back-up!"

Another Tanoomba and a Paratroopea came into the scene, readying for battle, too. The Paratroopea spat some healing saliva into the air, and the whole group of enemies were healed a bit, whether they needed it or not.

"Luigi, we're gonna need to try Swing Bros. Ready?" Mario asked.

Luigi looked uncertain, but nodded anyway. Luigi ran at Mario, who wasn't exactly ready, and accidentally chucked Luigi behind him. After several seconds, he came rolling into the Paratroopea after going around the world, who shook it off. Mario grinned sheepishly at Luigi.

Both of the Tanoombas morphed into Mario, and jumped at Luigi, whose jaw was dropped and open for attack. He ended up getting kicked, but the kicks was very weak. Luigi zapped the same Tanoomba he zapped earlier, but the Paratroopea ended up healing itself and the other Tanoombas.

"Uh…I'll try not to toss you around the world this time." Mario promised. Luigi closed his eyes, and charged at Mario, who grabbed him, and spun him about.

"Trust…trust…trust…" Mario chanted.

"Trust…trust…trust…" Luigi joined in.

"TRUST!" they shouted in unison, and Mario released Luigi, and he flew into the Paratroopea, striking it in the face, HARD. The Paratroopea cried out in pain, and crashed into the ground, defeated. They stared at the damage, and high-fived each other. "Good work, bro!"

A Tanoomba turned into Luigi and jumped at Mario, who wasn't buying it one bit. He smashed the fake with all his might, causing it to disappear in a puff of smoke. He did the same with the other Tanoomba, and watched Luigi squash the Tanoomba into the ground.

Now that the battle was won and the path was clear (after Luigi smashed the rock), they entered Teehee Valley, and stood near the entrance, waiting for Toadsworth and Princess Peach.

* * *

**Just so you know, the VII in the title means Version 2…not the number 7.**


	27. Pummel Perps, Protect Peach

Mario and Luigi - A Superstar Story

Chapter 27: Pummel Perps, Protect Peach

"Master Mario! Master Luigi!" Toadsworth called, walking into the area with Princess Peach following. "Hoo! Sorry to keep you waiting."

. . .

"Now then, Master Mario, Master Luigi…please be sure to take the utmost, most diligent, sincerest care of Princess Peach!" Toadsworth warned, receiving nods from the Bros.

"I'll be back before you know it!" Peach turned to the Bros. "OK, Mario! And Luigi! Let's go to Little Fungitown!"

Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach headed deeper into the Valley.

"Princess! Be careful! Hmm…why do I get the feeling I forgot to say something vital? …Oh! That's right!"

Mario and Luigi were stopped by Toadsworth, and Princess Peach didn't notice them getting stopped.

"Master Mario, wait!" Toadsworth cried, then noticing Peach walking away. "Oh, now I've done it!"

Peach turned to the trio.

"Huh? Toadsworth? What did you do?" she asked, then getting jumped by a Gritty Goomba from behind on a carpet. "Eeeek! Mario! Luigi!"

She was carried into a nearby yellow pipe.

"Master Mario, I forgot to tell you one vital tidbit…and now just look at what has happened! If you let the princess out of your sight like we just did, she'll get kidnapped instantly!"

Mario and Luigi were jaw-dropped.

"I beg of you: Rescue her and take care to ensure that you do not leave her side again. And if the princess gets too far ahead of you, please stop her and talk some sense into her…without violence! I have asked her to return by the same path she took if you should speak to her." Toadsworth continued. "And with that…good luck! I am counting on you!"

Now that the explanation was over, Toadsworth ran off to have some fun of his own.

Mario and Luigi started to make their way to the yellow pipe. They fell down it, and appeared out the other end into some ruins. After exploring a bit, they found Peach tied up and on a platform. The Gritty Goombas were doing a weird tribal dance before her, making weird noises along with it. Mario silenced (and defeated) one with a swing of his hammer, and Luigi pounded the ground, dazing the other and causing two Spiky Snifits to rise out of the ground. They were all dazed.

Luigi took the time to smash one of the Snifits in the face with his hammer, and Mario followed up by throwing a large fireball at the other, heavily damaging the latter. Luigi smashed the Gritty Goomba, which oddly enough woke it from its daze. The Goomba filled the room with a vicious sandstorm, blinding Mario and Luigi. It then took the chance to bash Mario, knocking him to the floor.

"OK, this guy's gotten on my nerves." Mario said, wiping the sand out of his eyes once the sandstorm ended. Luigi did the same, and helped his brother back up. Mario ran at the Gritty Goomba, and knocked its lights out. The Snifits woke up from their daze once this happened, and spat a spiky ball at Luigi, both hitting him on the head.

"Ouch! That was spiky!" Luigi cried, retaliating by smacking the second Snifit with his hammer. Mario scorched the other, and it went up in flames. The lonely Snifit shot another spiky ball at Luigi, and it bounced into the air, outthinking Luigi who had jumped. The plumber shot an electro ball at the Snifit at the same time, and as Luigi was hit on the head, the Snifit was destroyed.

Mario and Luigi high-fived each other, and hopped up to where Peach was squirming about. Luigi untied her, and she sat up. They all had a group hug.

. . .

"Sorry about that. I didn't realize you had stopped soon enough. I'll do my best to make sure it doesn't happen again!" Peach apologized as a Gritty Goomba snuck up on her. It jumped at her, but Princess Peach wasn't having it. She pulled out a frying pan, and smashed the creature in the face, instantly defeating it.

_Peach levelled up to Level 23! Peach got an extra +4 POW!_

Mario and Luigi's jaws were dropped. Peach smiled.

"Like I said, I'm going to do my best to make sure that doesn't happen again." Peach said, putting her frying pan away. "I'm not defenceless, you know. Why do you think I was in Super Smash Bros recently?"

Mario and Luigi accepted her remark, and continued through the valley. A pair of Gritty Goombas stopped them. Luigi hammered one, causing it to start a sandstorm. Peach pulled out a parasol and shielded the Bros with it, so they were able to see. Luigi caught the Gritty Goomba trucking towards him, and kicked it away. The other one performed the same move. Once again, Peach shielded the Bros. Mario saw it coming for him, and smacked it away with his hammer.

While it was exposed, Mario hurled a fireball at it, and destroyed the creature without a sweat. Luigi smashed the now lone Gritty Goomba with his hammer, and before it could start another sandstorm, Mario smashed it into the sand, knocking it out.

"Oh, that wasn't so bad! Now then, let's move on!" Peach said. They all moved on to the next area.

. . .

In the next section, a Gritty Goomba started chasing Peach after she passed a yellow pipe, and the princess dashed through the desert, getting cornered because a gate was blocking the way forward. There was a nearby block that could have solved that, but there was hardly any time to make a sprint to the block, and Peach could only run so fast.

Mario and Luigi got there in time…to see Peach get taken away by the Gritty Goomba. It pushed past them, and leaped into the yellow pipe. The duo headed into the pipe, and saw the Goombas doing the same thing as before.

Luigi put on Spiny Badge A before commencing battle with them. By that time, Mario had already disposed of the first Gritty Goomba. The other Gritty Goomba whistled before getting electrocuted by Luigi, and that made a pair of Spiky Snifits appear again. The Gritty Goomba started an indoor sandstorm, and managed to tackle Luigi. Mario threw the Gritty Goomba off, and hurled a fireball at it.

The Goomba dodged it, and the fireball hit one of the Snifits, instead. That Snifit growled, and spat a fast spiky ball at Mario, clonking him on the head. The other decided to do the same, and clonked Mario on the head, too. Luigi jumped on the Gritty Goomba who held its spear up to counter, but Spiky Badge A wasn't letting that happen, and the Goomba was mushed into the ground. Mario hurled another fireball at the same Snifit, and it was burned to a crust.

The other Snifit spat a spiky ball at Mario, but he lunged out of the way. Luigi kicked the Snifit, Spiky Badge A increasing damage, and causing the Snifit to keel over. Mario finished it off by punching the cactus with a fire-infused punch.

_Mario levelled up to Level 20! Mario got an extra +3 POW!_

_Luigi levelled up to Level 20! Luigi got an extra +5 STACHE!_

Mario and Luigi looked back at Peach, and she had apparently untied herself during the battle. Peach shrugged.

"I may as well quicken the process if I get myself captured." Peach said as they group-hugged, and left the underground area.

. . .

Now at the gate again, Mario punched the block, and Luigi fended off a Gritty Goomba who was trying to grab Peach with a stick. Once the Goomba knew there was no getting past Luigi, it gave up, and walked away. The green plumber met Mario and Peach waiting for him near the small interlude into the next area.

"That wasn't so bad, either! Now then, let's move on!"

. . .

As soon as they passed a yellow pipe, once again, a Gritty Goomba appeared, and stopped them. Mario tried to stop it from calling some Snifit friends, but he was too slow and it not only managed to call them, but it even dodged him! Luigi was faster thanks to his pants, and managed to at least stomp the creature, defeating it in a single strike. Mario hurled a fireball at the Snifit giving him the evil eye, causing it to cease that, and cry out in pain.

The Snifit tried shooting a spiky ball at Mario, but it missed and ended up shooting a mushroom at Luigi who caught it gracefully. The other Snifit wasn't interested in grace, and spat a spiky ball at Luigi, stopping the silly act. Mario bowled a large fireball at the Snifit who did this, and it was knocked over. As it was violently jerked back, it shot a mushroom at Mario by accident, and the plumber caught it with a baseball glove he suddenly managed to put on.

"Aaaaand you're out!" Peach whistled with a pink and blue whistle. Luigi chuckled, and drill kicked the first Snifit, knocking it out. He then followed up by back-flipping, then ground-pounding the other Snifit. It dropped a Red Pepper…which Mario picked up and stored away.

Luigi examined the gate at the end, and knew what he had to do. There was a red button next to the gate, barely out of the brothers' reach. There was another to the north, and that one was reachable.

"OK, Peach, we need you to smack that button there, and wait by that gate. If anything attacks you, you know what to do." Luigi said. Peach nodded, and walked over to the button, smacking it with her frying pan. Mario and Luigi cleared the area of enemies just to make things easier, and ran over to the start of a stair of ledges. There was a rock blocking a barrel. Mario closed his eyes, and chopped the rock in half with great force.

As Mario sent Luigi underground with a smash of the hammer, Peach (who was waiting by the gate) noticed a Gritty Goomba approaching her.

"I'm afraid I must kidnap you." it said.

Peach frowned a bit, and took out her frying pan. She then smashed it out of the desert without a second thought.

Mario hammered the button, causing the gate to lower, so Mario hopped off Luigi, and he broke out of the barrel. They all approached the interlude to the next section.

. . .

Mario and Luigi started things off by clearing out the area, and telling Peach to wait by the gate once again. They ran back to the area's entrance, and high-jumped up to a higher ledge after jumping on a very short ledge. They hopped up to a higher ledge, and spin-jumped across to another platform. They repeated the spin-jumping several more times, and reached a block. Luigi bashed it, and the gate to the interlude to the next area lowered.

Mario and Luigi jumped down, and ran up to Peach, who was waiting for them.

"Thank you! We're almost to Little Fungitown!"

. . .

Peach led the Bros up a couple of ledges, and to a sign.

"North…Little Fungitown. The Mushroom Kingdom Immigrant Community." Peach read aloud. She walked to the large interlude into the next area.

"Little Fungitown is up ahead! Don't let your guard down yet!" she warned. Mario nodded, Luigi jumped in understanding as Peach moved on. Mario and Luigi munched on some food and drank some syrup to refill their HP and BP. They then followed Peach…

. . .

"Eeeeeeeek!" Peach cried, backing up into a wall. There was no escape for the princess this time.

"H-Hey, man…this looks bad…uh…go…go rescue her!" a Toad with yellow dots instead of white and with a red mushroom hat instead with more pinkish skin who was hiding behind a wall said to a similar Toad behind the wall a few paces away to the east. Both of them were pretty hidden from Peach, not that she was in a good situation to look around.

"Huh? Something that huge?" the Toad to the east gasped quietly. "That's impossible!"

Luigi skidded to a stop in front of the scene, and Mario ran over, trying to do the same, but nearly falling over as he skidded to a stop. They both yelped as what had cornered Peach approached her even more. It was like a tree, with a chin for a body and everything but the eyes and little green tree on its head with an orange brown.

It didn't notice them, and walked closer to Peach. Its chunky fists were raised. Mario had to cough loudly to grab its attention.

"Hey, man! Isn't that Mario?" the Toad to the west asked. The tree monster grabbed Luigi, and held him high up in the air. The plumber wailed as the monster prepared to punch Luigi's lights out. Peach pulled out her frying pan, and smashed the monster on the tree (or head, as some may say), which caused it to drop Luigi and growl at Peach.

"Y-You're right! Talk about lucky!" the Toad to the east answered.

"MARIO! LUIGI! HELP ME!" Peach cried. Luigi rapidly poked the monster, causing it to turn around and face the Bros. It charged at them, and they started their battle.

Luigi made a leap to the side, skidding out of the way. Mario back-flipped over Trunkle's (just so ya know if you don't know, that was the monster's name) head, and smashed his backside with his hammer. Trunkle groaned in pain, rubbing his back. Luigi ran up to Trunkle, and jumped. Trunkle glared daggers at Luigi when he noticed him coming, causing the plumber to yelp and hit his head with his back. Luigi bounced off of him, and scuttled back to Mario before it could crush him into the sand.

"Hey, Bro!" Luigi called.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"How about we attack that tree on that creature's head? Maybe that's its weakness?"

"Are you sure his isn't his back? He did react like it was…"

"If someone smashes your back with a hammer, I'm pretty sure you'll react the same way."

"Good point. I'm aiming for the tree!" Mario said, hurling a fireball at Trunkle's tree…but it fell short and landed on his chest. Trunkle blew it out quite quickly, and started spinning his right arm. He spun it so much, it actually went flying off and clonked Mario on the head. Trunkle grew another right arm as Mario climbed back to his feet.

"Well, this guy is definitely not made out of wood...even if he has a tree on his head. That felt like a-" Mario was clonked on the head by another rock…falling to the floor once more. Trunkle seemed to be laughing.

"Well, this guy definitely doesn't like you that much." Luigi said, helping his dear brother up. Mario gave Luigi a thumbs-up, and Luigi suggested they do Knockback Bros. Luigi smashed Mario into his mini-form, and smashed him in an arc at Trunkle. Mario curled up as this happened, and he struck Trunkle's chin...not that that was hard to do, seeing as most of his lower body looked like it was part of his chin. This attack didn't seem to faze Trunkle, however.

"Man, this guy is sturdy!" Mario admitted, rubbing his head as he reformed back to his normal size. "Maybe a Drill Bros might weaken up his defences…?"

Luigi nodded, and let Mario hop on to him and use him as a trampoline to bounce into the air, spin for a bit, land on Luigi again to jump off him…with an extra boost thanks to Luigi pushing him up into the air. Mario spun to the air above Trunkle, and drilled on to his head, barely skimming the tree. Trunkle started shaking.

"Did we beat him?" Luigi asked…Trunkle breaking into four as his response.

"Apparently not." Mario said as the front Trunkle laughed, showing an orange in his mouth before jumping about with the other Trunkles. "But Disperse Bros should make quick work of him, I guess."

They performed Disperse Bros, splitting flight paths and hitting the front and back Trunkles. They both collapsed, becoming a pile of brown mushy stuff with a tree sticking out the top. Mario walked up to one of the two remaining Trunkles, and stepped on it.

"Sorry, little guy. You were harassing our princess." Mario said, showing some emotion.

The Trunkle collapsed in a pile of mushy brown stuff. Mario felt tricked. The remaining and real Trunkle curled up into a ball, and rolled at Luigi, striking him and rolling back to the other Trunkles. Luigi chased after the Trunkle and smashed him with his hammer. Mario jumped on the Trunkle, forcing his feet on to it, but the Trunkle chucked him off and rolled into him too. Luigi zapped Trunkle on his way back, causing him to pause.

Luigi ran into Mario, and started spinning him around and around, and when they thought they trusted each other, Mario let go, and Luigi flopped like a fish, landing on Trunkle quite weakly.

"Do we not…trust each other anymore?" Mario asked.

"Maybe we just didn't have any skill that time."

"I guess so."

Trunkle rolled into Luigi again, and the Bros decided to do Knockback Bros. Luigi smashed Mario on the head, but missed a bit, and the hammer head fell off before contact, causing Mario to recoil and cover his head with his arms. Luigi improvised and smashed Mario at Trunkle anyway, knocking the small creature over.

Mario spat the sand out of his mouth, and kicked Trunkle, causing the creature and its clones to blow up in a bunch of stars, leaving behind a 1-UP Mushroom and some Super Nuts.

_Mario levelled up to Level 21! Mario got an extra +3 STACHE!_

_Luigi levelled up to Level 21! Luigi got an extra +5 STACHE!_

"Oh…Mario…Luigi…" Peach breathed a huge sigh of relief. "Thank you! You saved me!"

They all had a group hug as the two Toads walked into the scene.

"It-It looks like they got it…" one of them said, grabbing the attention of the hugging trio. "So, yeah, that monster blocking the gate to town was a huge problem, needless to say. Thanks!"

"No problem!" Mario said. "Glad that helped you all!"

"W-Welcome to Little Fungitown." The other Toad said. "P-Princess Peach! M-Mario Bros! We have been waiting for you! We were told to expect you. Please! We insist you use the lift in the back!"

Peach stepped on to the elevator up ahead that seemed to have some symbols on it.

"Mario! Luigi! Let's go up the elevator to Little Fungitown! Hop on!" Peach laughed as they jumped on. "I wonder just what kind of town it is…oooh, I can't wait!"

The elevator whisked them up, taking them to the much anticipated Little Fungitown…


	28. Fun Fun Fungitown

Mario and Luigi - A Superstar Story

Chapter 28: Fun Fun Fungitown

The elevator was still going up.

"Ooh, I can't wait!" Peach squealed. "I can see the tall mushrooms and the underside of the town, now!"

"I'm still wondering how the Toads made it through Teehee Valley…" Mario mused. "No offence to any Toads out there, but they tend to be quite fragile from what I've seen."

"Maybe they didn't. For all we know, they might have flown near where they built the elevator, and settled there." Luigi said.

"I think I read about Little Fungitown back at Beanbean Castle's library while I was preparing to come here." Peach recalled. "If I remember right, the people of the ancient Soybean Civilization were the ones who created this lift we're riding on. They also discovered Little Fungitown first, which explains why it isn't part of the Mushroom Kingdom. Then immigrant Toads from the Mushroom Kingdom settled and populated Little Fungitown afterwards, and that's why there's apparently a good deal of Toads here, too."

"I didn't even know Beanbean Castle had a library."

"Well, it's a castle, so there's likely to be one. I stumbled across it while waiting for Toadsworth. That castle has a lot of books, I'll have you know. From _The Legend of the Beanstar_to _Woohoo Historia,_ that castle contains a lot of history about the places in the Beanbean Kingdom."

**Little Fungitown**

"Huh, and it looks like we're there." Mario said, noticing the elevator reach a stop, right next to a short bridge on to the mushrooms. They stepped off the elevator, and walked on to the mushroom, an faced a pair of Toads were waiting for them.

"P-P-P-Princess Peach!" one of the Toads gasped. "Is-Is that you, Your Highness? We-We'd heard you were coming from T-Toadsworth! But so soon?"

"We-We're so honoured you've come all the way h-h-here!" the other Toad continued quickly, not missing a chance to speak to the princess.

"A-A-And over here we have the s-s-superstar, M-M-M-Mario!" the first Toad yelped, staring at the red plumber, who jumped a bit to confirm it.

"And L-L-Luigi!?" the other Toad screamed louder. "Are you for r-r-real? We-We don't deserve such an in-in-in-incredible honor!"

Luigi turned red scratched his head in embarrassment as Peach did another curtsey.

"Thanks for your hospitality." Peach said quite humbly.

"V-V-Very well, then!" the Toads nodded as they both scuttled to the trio's left. "A-Allow us to show you around L-Little Fungitown!"

"Looks like we've done our job successfully." Luigi assumed.

"Mario! Luigi! Thank you so much for all that you've done. I'm all right now." Peach assured.

"You sure? You don't need anything?" Mario asked to be sure.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. You two can relax a little and walk around and enjoy the sights."

Mario and Luigi high-fived each other, causing Peach to giggle a bit.

"We can all meet up again a little bit later." Peach said, receiving a pair of nods, and walking off with the Toads to soak in the sights.

"So, what should we do first?" Mario asked.

"Let's talk to people to find out what we actually CAN do here!" Luigi suggested, as they wandered around town, talking to everyone.

"Well, if it isn't Mario and Luigi!" a tall, somewhat chubby Toad called out of the blue. "Mario… Rumors of your deeds have reached even my ears. And you, Luigi… Always looking after the home front! Well done!"

Mario and Luigi walked into the house he was standing near, and the female Toad there on the lower floor noticed them walk in.

"Oh! Hey! Mario! And Luigi! Did you say you two were guarding Princess Peach?"

"Yep yup. She doesn't need the guarding now, though. I don't think she even needed it in the first place. She can easily take care of herself with that devastating frying pan of hers." Mario shuddered at the connections it made in the past with Peach wielding it.

"Wow! I knew it! She was in Super Smash Bros! Boy, my dad could learn a thing or two from you guys and the princess!"

"Dad?" a little Toad upstairs waddled near the edge of the upstairs area, and looked down on his sister and the Bros. "Yeah, my dad should get some tips from you people. Lately, dad's just been spending all his time hanging around in the new Game Arcade. And boy, my mom is so mad! Which would be funny, except she goes and takes it out on me!"

Mario winced.

"It's not easy for a kid when his parents are like this!"

"Hm, it sounds like this town has one place we should check out, then. To the Game Arcade!" Mario said.

"Uh…we don't know where it is yet." Luigi noted as Mario ran out the door. "Ah, well, I guess this will let us check the sights!"

There was a gear shop Mario was staring at. He stood there, and waited for Luigi, who came momentarily.

"Ooh, a Gear Shop."

It was a pretty quick visit, consisting of Mario buying and equipping some Shroom Bells, apparently made from Koopa shells, and of Luigi buying and putting away for later use a Mari-Lui Badge. They left the store, and continued to try and hunt down that Game Arcade.

"Wow!"

Mario looked at the direction of the "Wow!" and saw a Toad gawking at the commotion to the east.

"What's to wow at?" Luigi asked the girl.

"There's a commotion over there, it looks like! I wonder what it's about…"

Mario and Luigi looked at each other, and ran over to the area of commotion.

"Invince! Invince! Invincishroom!" a Toad was shouting loud and proud, jumping about. "This unique mushroom is a mix of 1-UP Mushrooms and Stars from the Mushroom Kingdom!"

"Wow, he's loud." Luigi said, covering his ears to listen at a more comfortable sound level.

"Come now! Don't you crave an Invincishroom? Play to win! See inside for more details!

Mario and Luigi entered the Game Arcade he was standing in front of.

"Welcome! What do you say? Would you like to play?" a Toad with a yellow builder's hat with a mustache behind a counter asked. "Give it a try! If you get a super-nice score, I'll give you a free Invincishroom!"

The Bros hopped up to the upper floor to find two machines. A Toad was hogging the left one. A quick glance by Mario made them both realize he was playing Super Smash Bros.

"Hmph… This game cheats! …!" the Toad whined. "I was shielding! SHIEEELDING! NO! I did NOT press that!"

Mario and Luigi ignored him, and turned on the other machine.

"This is our most popular machine: The Star 'Stache Smash!" a blue doll on the screen said. "The high score is 200 points. Beat it to get an exquisite prize! Press the START button to view the rules. Good luck!"

"So, the Stars are worth 5 points, the Fire Flowers are worth three points, the Mushrooms and Bob-ombs are worth 1 points, the latter changing which Piranha Plant has its mouth open and Player 1 presses the A button while Player 2 presses the B button. We need to beat that high score! Let's go!

Mario strategically pressed the A button, tipping stuff into the right Piranha Plant's mouth steadily to not change the Piranha Plant who had its mouth open. One of those items was eventually a Bob-omb, and it caused that Piranha Plant to shut its mouth. The left one opened its, and Luigi pressed the B button once Mario let go of the A button. Luigi instantly poured a Bob-omb in when he was holding B, and only got them to 80 points. It was Mario's turn, and he expertly kept the Bob-ombs out of his side for the next 33 seconds, ending up with 283 points.

"Congratulations! It's a new high score!" the doll popped out of the right Piranha Plant's open mouth and said.

. . .

"WOW! Nice score! Super-nice, even!" the Toad behind the counter yelled. "All righty! Here you go!" I was handed the Invincishroom. Luigi was handed one too.

Luigi was about to eat his, but I raised my hand to stop him. I needed to check if this mushroom was good to eat. I didn't want my brother to get sick during this adventure. I checked the mushroom. It didn't seem to emanate any bad signs, so I decided to eat it. I chucked it into the air, and it landed in my mouth. I began to chew, and I could start to taste the Invincishroom.

How did it taste? I couldn't tell. It felt…tasteless. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my neck, so I grabbed my neck to try and ease it. I wasn't choking. There was nothing stuck in my neck. I could see Luigi's worried face, and a relief washed over me, even while I was feeling a bit dizzy. Luigi hadn't eaten the mushroom yet, so he was fine.

Luigi waved his hand past my face, but I froze up suddenly, and a green colour grew upon my face. I fell backwards, heard my brother scream, and the world entered a slumber of darkness…

* * *

**I did a bit of First-Person to see how it would work for that particular bit. And I have to say, it worked pretty well. This chapter also wasn't as short as I expected it to be. That's nice.**


	29. Ruins of the Guffawing Variety

Mario and Luigi - A Superstar Story

Chapter 29: Ruins of the Guffawing Variety

_Everything was black. I couldn't see anything. I couldn't feel anything. I couldn't taste anything, and I couldn't smell anything. All I could do was listen to the faint voices in the background. I remember, while I could still feel stuff, that I was carried somewhere on a very comfortable surface._

"Mario…"

_That had to be Peach._

"How… how is he?" Peach asked with a lot of concern in her voice.

_Was there a doctor there that they were talking to?_

"Before I can answer that, refresh me, young lad, how did this happen?"

Well, that SOUNDS like what I'd think a doctor would sound like. Young lad? He must mean Luigi.

"Well, it's a short story, but…"

_Yep. My brother's here, and wow, I'm sounding casual. I probably have a terrible disease, and I'm still feeling positive. I guess that's a good thing._

"…and then we rushed to the Embassy. That's what happened."

"Hm, so if I got this right, it went like this…"

. . .

"WOW! Nice score! Super-nice, even!" the Toad behind the counter yelled. "All righty! Here you go!" Mario was handed the Invincishroom. Luigi was handed one too.

Mario raised his hand to stop Luigi from eating his first, and the plumber examined his prize. The Invincishroom was green, and had red dots like any other mushroom. Good to eat? Probably. Mario threw it into the air, and let it fall into his mouth. He started to chew it.

"Umm-yum! Isn't it delectable?" the Toad asked.

Mario yelped as he froze, grabbing his neck and having wide-eyes. Luigi walked up to Mario, and waved his hand past his face. Mario turned green, and Mario fell backwards as Luigi shrieked.

"MARIO!"

The area around the town was disturbed, and Peach and the Toads rushed to the source of the sound. There they saw Mario on the floor, green-face and all. His hands were on his stomach, and his eyes were closed. Luigi was kneeling beside him.

Peach gasped, and ran out to get help.

. . .

"Yeah, that's the story." Luigi confirmed.

_Wow, that's some story._

"Hmmm…" the doctor mused. "Green hue… Yes… Discolouration in the face… The symptoms seem to indicate… **Bean Fever! **No mistaking it!"

_Gasp._

"Umm…what's that?" Luigi asked.

"This illness afflicts many travellers who aren't used to the food in this region." The doctor said.

"W-Well then…can you cure him?" Peach asked after some thought.

"Had I the right remedy, I could cure him, but sadly, I'm all out." The doctor poked Mario's foot.

_…_

"So, what would happen if he wasn't cured? Would he just heal naturally?" Luigi asked.

"At this rate, in three days…he'll be a bean!"

_No. Just no. _

Luigi and Peach apparently thought the same thing as Mario, except they seemed to react a lot louder. Luigi shrieked, Peach screamed, they both were staring at the doctor with wide-eyes. Then, a glint of determination appeared in Peach's eyes. She gave the doctor a hard stare and quickly asked.

"Wh-What shall we do?" Peach asked, walking up to the doctor, who stepped back a bit to have some more personal space. Peach was all up in her face. "What's the remedy?

"It's somewhat dangerous, but west of this town lies a place known as Guffawha Ruins!" the doctor turned off the lights, and continued his tale. "It is said that deep within Guffawha Ruins…there grows Crabbie Grass, an antidote to this fever."

_Dangerous. No wonder they were all out of Crabbie Grass…but how did they even have any to begin with? Who did they send?_

"Luigi…will you go to Guffawha Ruins?" Peach asked.

Luigi nodded hastily.

_Phew. I'm saved, thanks to my bro._

"On a side note, according to recent research…" the doctor snapped his fingers, which both turned the light on, and caused a picture to come dropping down in front of Mario. In the picture, there was a menacing stone monster with yellow eyes which had red pupils, and was chowing down on a Little Fungitown Toad who was crying out and flapping his arms while blue fire blasts came out the sides of the monster's somewhat open mouth. "Frightful monsters such as these have settled into Guffawha Ruins. Rumours say that those who have been attacked by these monsters…have had their bones broken, their suitcase looted and themselves knocked out, their flesh stripped, and all their blood sucked out. …Yuck."

_Doctor. You have most likely just erased ANY chance of Luigi still being up for this. Now I have to hope Luigi can dig deep inside of him for that courage to go to these ruins. I trust him. He'll do it for me. We always have each other's backs. Ugh, I'm feeling dizzy…_

Peach was leering at the doctor viciously. You wouldn't believe someone like her would be able to glare at someone with such…fury. The doctor felt the leer, and started sweating rapidly as Luigi looked horrified. He thought of something to lift the mood.

"…Well, that's what they say!"

Peach's initial shock at the doctor telling someone like Luigi information like that when LIVES were at risk here wore off, and the doctor felt a wash of relief.

"Oh, my! That's quite frightful!" Peach gasped, then putting her hand on Luigi's shoulder. "But you're Luigi! You'll do just fine there, surely!"

Luigi was still horrified, unaffected by Peach's encouragement. Peach's hope dropped a bit.

"…Uh, right, Luigi?" Peach asked. Luigi yelped, and ran to the wall. Peach faced him. "You'll be fine, won't you?"

Luigi was still shivering.

"This is for Mario's sake, right?"

Luigi continued shivering.

"**You WILL** **go, yes?**" Peach asked again quite loudly, but avoiding a shout. Luigi froze. The shivering stopped. He walked a bit closer to Peach, and was ready, even though he was scared to death and his hands were holding on to his cap and pulling it downwards on to his head.

"For my brother." Luigi said between his teeth.

Peach cheered.

"Look! That's _true_ brotherly love! Sheer will is making his cowardly bones move. How inspiring!" the doctor exclaimed.

"Luigi, you're our only hope. Please come back safely. We'll be waiting for you." Peach said, before she and the doctor watched Mario, Peach sitting on the chair next to him, and the doctor watching over him from the side.

Luigi slowly slid his feet across the ground and out of the room. As he grinded his feet across the floor to the exit, one of the Toads spoke up, noticing this strange behaviour.

"Mr. Luigi? Is something the matter?"

Luigi continued to grind out of the room, and left the area around the Embassy, bumping down some mushrooms and falling over, landing on a pink-ish mushroom. A Toad nearby helped him up, but Luigi quickly reverted to his scared state.

"Psycho Kamek has become obsessed with his hobby…hypnosis!" the Toad said, gesturing to the house nearby. "In fact, he now brings someone in every day and attempts his weird little hypnotisms."

Luigi tried to jump up to higher land nearby, but couldn't muster the willpower to jump, so he just entered Psycho Kamek's house. There was a white Magikoopa with a bit of red on him in there alone.

"Oh, are you interested in my hypnotic abilities?"

Luigi slid forward a bit.

"Oh, dear. You look so…nervous. Horrified, even. Why don't you start by taking a long, deep breath?"

Luigi breathed in a tiny bit for a while.

"How was that? You feel more relaxed now, don't you?" Psycho Kamek noticed how he was wearing overalls and a cap. "Say, you're dressed strikingly like Mario, aren't you? Are you infatuated with Mario, the superstar? Well, in that case, I shall turn you into Mario! Now, close your eyes…"

Luigi closed his eyes, and his head followed the mysterious wand movements produced by Kamek.

"You shall now become Mario." He said. "Yes. Embrace it. Believe. With his incredible jump, you will face the onslaught of evil. The greatest superstar of the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario…is YOU!"

Luigi started tilting his head back and forth.

"See? Aren't you feeling a tad more Marioesque?"

_You are becoming Mario…_

_You are turning into Mario…_

_More and more into Mario…_

_You are almost Mario…_

_Quite nearly Mario…_

"YAHHH!" Psycho Kamek zapped the air above Luigi with a spell, and particles drifted on to his head, disappearing on contact. "You may open your eyes now. Now come this way…"

Kamek led Luigi to a closed mirror, and separated the curtains veiling the mirror. There, in the reflection, stood a plumber. A plumber, with blue overalls, white gloves, a red cap with an M on it, and a face that resembled…Luigi!

"Well? Are your hat and clothes not red?" Psycho Kamek asked, pulling the curtains back together again. "You are Mario!"

Luigi did a spin, and raised his hand into the air. He was ready.

**Teehee Valley**

Luigi walked south from the elevator, and noticed a little lift to his right. The sign nearby told him it was a one-man lift to Guffawha Ruins. Luigi hopped on to it, and rode it up. He was brought up to some higher ground, and walked onwards through a thin path, breaking rocks on the way. He kept going south, then east, and soon found himself out of the little maze, and walked west, past a few maps.

Luigi jumped up the staircase of ledges, and back down. He was out of the desert now, and raided a block for its 1-UP Mushroom. He headed south, to find a trio of blocks, obtaining two Mushrooms and a jar of Syrup from them. He found some very out of places rock steps, and climbed up them. Walking across them soon led him into a spot where he was surrounded by skull statues, with a red one staring him in the face in the middle.

Luigi smacked it…and the statue toppled, causing a ball of light to drop down. Luigi instinctively hit it, using his hammer as a baseball bat. He smashed it into the statue in front of him, and the light travelled to the statue to its right. Luigi did this three more times, and this time, a red ball of light came down. It went back up, changing to a normal ball of light, and Luigi then chose to hit it. It travelled to the statue to the right of the one Luigi was facing, then circling it, but if that one was occupied, it would go to the next one in a clockwise fashion. This had been the fifth statue surrounded by a ball of light. Luigi did this two more times, and the smashed the eighth ball of light (when it wasn't red, that is) at the one he was facing this whole time. All of the statues started shooting beams of light at where Luigi was standing, and he ran from the area.

This caused the red statue to return, but as a gray colour, with its mouth open with a red button just telling Luigi to hit when he walked back. Luigi smashed it, and the door to the ruins ahead opened. Luigi cheered as he ran inside.

Straight away after walking a bit, he had to charge a couple of electric orbs to open a gate onwards. Luigi zapped both with the same bolt of electricity, and it opened the mouth door. Luigi continued, to find that there were indeed enemies here. Luigi tip-toed past the first Chuck Guy, and crippled the second with a quick zap to get past without conflict. In the next room, Luigi had to climb up some ledges to hit a block up there.

This raised a line of donut blocks ahead, and Luigi jumped on one. It began to fall to the ground again, but Luigi leaped to the next one, and the next in quick succession, making it to the other side without fail, and moving on.

Luigi ran to the wall the moment he entered the next room, and slowly walked to the end of it, and peeped his head around. A Chuck Guy chucked a spear at his face. Luigi did the first thing he thought of doing…a barrel roll. He rolled under it, and barrelled through the Chuck Guy, dazing it for a moment. Luigi hammered the Chuck Guy behind him in the nick of time, causing it to fall over in pain. Luigi made a break for the ledges downwards, and ran east.

Luigi saw a block being guarded by a Chuck Guy. He jumped to the floor, and slowly crawled to one of the pillars the Chuck Guy was standing next to. Luigi got up, and hugged the pillar. He side-stepped to the end of the pillar, and sent his fist around the pillar, into the face of the Chuck Guy. It wailed, and fell on the floor, squirming in pain. Luigi ran by, snagged the Super Mushroom from the block, and ran away as fast as his legs could carry him.

In the door he found, there was room with a staircase of ledges, which were quickly climbed up. There was some fancy platforming waiting for Luigi, and after several attempts, Luigi made it through, somewhat dizzy. He entered the next area, and saw six platforms at three levels, most of them having a coloured button nearby. Luigi hit a blue button next to a raised blue platform, and it lowered. Luigi jumped on to it, and hopped on to some stones. He hopped on to a raised green platform, and made his way to the second level.

Luigi hit the green button next to a lowered blue platform, and all the green platforms lowered themselves, much like how the blue platforms did when a blue button was hit. Luigi hopped on to the blue platform, on to the rocks, and then on to a raised red platform. He jumped up to the third level.

Luigi hopped on to a lowered green platform, and on to some rocks. He jumped up to another raised red platform, and hopped up to a fourth level with only a red button able to hit. Luigi hit it, causing the red platforms to lower themselves. Luigi jumped back down to the second level, and hit the green button on the right side. Luigi then used the nearby blue platform to get to the left side and hit the blue button.

Luigi jumped on to the lowered red platform nearby, and used it to jump on to the rocks, which he also used to jump on to the raised blue platform, then hopping to the third level, where the plumber jumped on to the lowered red platform, and on to the rocks, then leaping to the raised green platform, where he hopped up to the left side of the fourth level, which was completely blocked off from the right side Luigi was once on. Luigi entered the next section, and ran down the ledges, leaping over a Chuck Guy and diving out of the way of another. Luigi soon reached the bottom, and moved on.

Here, in the next room, Luigi made his way up three ledge staircases, and hit the block at the top, which caused a stone head (quite similar to the one from the picture from earlier) to drop down on some ground separated from the ground Luigi was on. Three yellow platforms appeared out of nowhere, and Luigi jumped on to the closest and only platform he was able to jump on from where he was.

"Hey, Mr Mussstache! I am amazed you hafff come ssso fffar." The stone head said. "Word hasss ssspread in town that I hafff become a horrible and dessspicably fffrightening monssster. Why doesss everybody ssspread rumoursss they know nothing about? That makesss me fffuriousss!"

Luigi was paying attention to each and every word.

"It's SSSOOOOO ANNOYING! It tearsss up my insssidesss!" the stone head groaned, then realizing he had an idea. "Oh! You could help! Mr Mussstache! Pleassse help me releassse the ssstresss that ailsss me ssso! All you mussst do isss dodge my flamesss fffor 30 sssecondsss. What do you sssay? Will you ease my pain? Will you help me essscape my ssstresss?"

"Yesss, of courssse I will." Luigi answered.

"Of courssse you will! Like I sssaid, you mussst dodge my ffflamesss for 30 sssecondsss. Ifff my ffflamesss hit you or you fffall off that ledge befffore 30 sssecondsss passs…you mussst ssstart all over. Ready?"

Luigi nodded, and the platforms began to go into the stone head's mouth. Luigi jumped to the one away from the head every few seconds, and after a while, blue fireballs were spat from its mouth. Luigi hopped over those after jumping away, and repeated this for the last 20 seconds. It was a pretty simple task, and once done, Luigi jumped down to the ground below.

"Sssuccesss!" the stone head cheered. OHHH! Many thanksss! That really let off a lot of ssstresss! It fffeels like my sssoul hasss at lassst been releasssed!"

The gate behind Luigi opened its mouth, allowing people to enter.

"Thank you, mussstachioed one! You can go now! I am done with you!"

The stone head disappeared, and Luigi jumped down and entered the newly opened path. The next area had luscious dark green grass, and in the middle of the room, was some Crabbie Grass. It was like something had sprouted out of the ground, grew two leaves, and stopped with a curl. Luigi left through a door to his right, and ran into the yellow pipe ahead of him. He came out in front of another yellow pipe, and walked into that one two, and he was now in Little Fungitown again.

Luigi stumbled across a green pipe, and jumped with all his might to make it up to the ground before it. He opened up the way back to Little Fungitown, which was marked with a 7 above the pipe back. Luigi left the junction and headed back to Little Fungitown.

He made his way back to where he thought the Embassy was, and had a Toad confirm it.

"The Mushroom Embassy is just up ahead." The Toad confirmed, pointing north. Luigi nodded, and jogged across the bridge, to suddenly get zapped by a lightning bolt, knocking him to the floor. "Luigi! Are you OK?"

Luigi looked around, confused. He jumped up to his feet.

"I think I forgot what I was doing…"

"What? You don't know what you've been doing? Don't you remember?"

"Um…maybe?"

"I heard you went to Guffawha Ruins to get Crabbie Grass for Mario…" the Toad trailed, causing Luigi to rummage through his suitcase. "Did… Did you really get Crabbie Grass?"

There was indeed Crabbie Grass in there. Luigi showed the Toad the grass.

"It-It really IS Crabbie Grass!" the Toad stuttered. "Going to the frightful and dangerous Guffawha Ruins all by yourself…Luigi! How incredibly courageous you are! Surely you will be a legend in this town! By the way, what do you think that thunderous noise was? Could something have happened at the embassy? Luigi, shouldn't you be rushing to Mario's side?"

Luigi put the Crabbie Grass away, and ran for the Embassy.

"L-Luigi!" a Toad cried. "P-P-Princess Peach! She-!"

The sky darkened, and lightning bolts zapped the area around Luigi and the Toad. Sudenly, Peach appeared, apparently stuck in a Clown Car.

"Luigi!" Peach cried as large familiar hands pulled her back down.

"Oh no! Bowser!" Luigi cried, stamping his feet. "I thought we were working together to SAVE the princess!

"Eeyah ha ha!" Bowser(?) cackled. "Excuse me? Bowser? Oh, I think you're sorely mistaken. I'm…"

Luigi could now make out a Bowser-shape creature, with somewhat feminine qualities. He seemed to resemble Cackletta a bit.

"…Bowletta!"

"Cackletta's power has poured into this Koopa who is king!" Fawful flew into the scene, using his headgear. "The body is of the Bowser, but the mind is all of the Great Cackletta!"

"Eeyah ha ha ha ha!" Bowletta cackled. "I need no voice this time…I'll just steal…the real deal! Eeyah ha ha ha ha!"

Bowletta and Fawful, satisfied with their result, flew away.

"L-Luigi! Quickly! You must go to your brother, Mario!" the Toad cried. Luigi remembered, and ran to his brother's room. He took out the Crabbie Grass, and it did the rest.

Mario's eyes opened, and his skin returned to its normal colour. Mario jumped to his feet, and saw Luigi break into tears.

"Thanks a ton, Luigi, but what happened?"

"Mario! The p-princess!" the Toad from before ran in and cried. A startled expression appeared on Mario's face, and the Toad explained what had happened as they walked to the lift back to Teehee Valley.


	30. The Ship

Mario and Luigi - A Superstar Story

Chapter 30: The Ship

"Master Mario! Master Luigi!" Toadsworth yelled, fuming red with anger, and waving his stick at the crying Luigi and the Mario who accepted what had taken place in Little Fungitown. "Awful things transpired while you were off doing who-knows-what! It looks like my hobbies will have to be shelved once again…"

"Your highness!" Lady Lima called, interrupting Toadsworth's scolding. "Bowser…no…Cackletta…uh, I mean…Bowletta…a message has arrived!"

She raised a small GBA into the air, and allowed it to display the hologram and message. Foul laughter emanated ominously from the GBA as the wretched face of Bowletta turned its ugly head, appearing in the hologram display.

"You puny little worms are no match for me now!" Bowletta taunted. "I'm only going to say this once, so listen up!"

Luigi butt-slid to the GBA, and paid attention.

"I'm guessing it's for ransom or something involving the princess." Mario assumed.

"If you want your precious princess returned safely…bring me the four pieces of the Beanstar! I will contact you again once the Beanstar is complete!"

"But how will you know it's complete?" Luigi asked, trying to make sure this deal was legit.

"I have my ways…that I don't plan on telling you." The hologram Bowletta disappeared, and Lady Lima put away the GBA was Lady Lima got off her throne and folded her arms, worried as everyone bounced into the air.

"Oh, my…how has it come to this?" Lady Lima asked herself.

"It seems we played our hand out, only to find the game is not over…"

"What kind of card game is this?!" Mario asked, being ignored.

"There is little we can do. For now, we must gather the Beanstar pieces as Bowletta demands."

"Weren't you looking for them in the first place?" Mario questioned. Peasley shook his finger.

"I was scouting the general areas, and now know the general areas that the pieces fell in, so it shouldn't be too hard to find them anymore." Prince Peasley took out a map. "The locations are the following. South Beanbean, North-West Beanbean, Chucklehuck Woods, and Teehee Valley. I have marked the areas where the pieces fell on your map. Look."

"When did you get that map, anyway?" Luigi asked.

"Oh, I grabbed it while you were getting scolded. I figured we'd get that kind of message from Bowletta. Now, the question is…who will gather the pieces first? The esteemed Mario Bros? Or me?" Peasley asked. "I will bet 99,999,999,999,999 Mushroom coins that it will be me!"

Luigi was left jaw-dropped at this bold statement. He memorised what Peasley had said, and taunted him with his butt.

"Yeah, right. I'll be remembering those words." Luigi laughed.

"Do not scoff…for I do not intend to lose!" Peasley jabbed the tip of Luigi's butt with his sword rapidly for a few seconds, leaving a group of holes in Luigi's butt, causing the plumber to give a nervous chuckle at the realization, turning red and scratching his head. "The game is afoot!"

Peasley ran off, beginning the hunt for the Beanstar pieces.

"Master Mario! Master Luigi!" Toadsworth boomed, coughing before he continued. "We're counting on you! Heed my directions well and you'll quickly find the Beanstar piece that landed in Teehee Valley! I recommend going to find this Beanstar piece first! I must say, my senses have been referred to as "strangely keen"!"

"Mmm-hmm." Mario and Luigi didn't look too convinced, but they both had a hunch Toadsworth knew what he was talking about. They exited the castle.

"This is Beanbean Castle!" one of the guards said. "ARGH, I can't take this anymore. I have to let this out! I'm just darn sick of having to say the SAME DARN THING for most of this stupid story! Those horrible developers just HAD to be oh so lazy with my dialogue! Couldn't they at least MIX IT UP?!"

Mario and Luigi looked extremely startled. The other guard piped up too.

"This is Beanbean-no. I'm venting out my fury too! They were even LAZIER with my dialogue! Not only was HIS LAZY, mine was the EXACT same line. I just about ALWAYS say the same stupid thing, OVER AND OVER AGAIN! ARGH, I hate it! HECK, by the time people hear what that guy says, I wouldn't even GET a chance to speak! And they said them developers were good. Psshaw, that's a bunch of lies."

Mario and Luigi waited, expecting another random outburst from anything. When nothing happened, they sighed in relief.

"Listen. Sorry about that outburst…we were just itching to vent out our frustration, but we never had the chance to do it. Thanks for hearing us out…even if you didn't want to." The guards said, nodding in thanks. Mario and Luigi gave a thumbs-up, and walked away.

"This Beanbean Kingdom is wacky, I'll give you that. What the heck is a developer?" Mario asked.

"Why you asking me? You think I know?" Luigi laughed. "So, it looks like we're going to Teehee Valley. Should we prep or something?"

"Yeah, we'll probably need to if there's new stuff to buy at the shops."

"Well, this quick shopping spree should be quick."

. . .

In the end, neither of them bought anything, as they preferred their own current clothes to the new ones at the shop. Even the badges they were wearing stayed the same.

"Huh, that was a slightly disappointing bunch of new items…" Luigi groaned.

"You said it, bro. So, I guess we're going where Toadsworth wants us to go…Teehee Valley." Mario agreed.

**Teehee Valley**

"OK, so now that we're not bodyguards this time, I think we can explore this place more thoroughly. So, where should we check?" Mario asked as they jumped up the ledges before them to get a better view.

"Hm…we went north last time. How about we check that area to the east?" Luigi suggested as he pointed over there.

"Good idea. Let's-a go!"

Mario and Luigi dropped down from the higher ledge, walked towards the one Luigi was pointing, and they high-jumped up there, travelling east now. There was a Bros Block that was bashed till it could no longer be bashed along the way, but apart from that, it was a boring walk. Soon enough, they came across a large ship.

"Hey, I can see something sparkling up there! Let's get it before misfortune strikes us!" Mario said. Luigi scuttled to some ledges, and when Mario arrived they quickly high-jumped up to the highest part, and spin-jumped on to the ship. They heard sounds from inside the ship and lunged at the piece as two skeletons from the ship came out and surrounded the piece. Mario and Luigi bounced off their hard bones and fell off the ship.

"Huh? Did someone just go an' touch me?" one of the skeletons asked.

"I don't see anyone. Maybe you were imaging it?" the other skeleton answered as his friend looked down at the piece.

"Whoa! Is this the thing that fell from the sky an' crashed into the hatch with a big ol' thud?!"

"It's gotta be! And thanks to that, the hatch is busted! This is terrible!"

"But hey! Whoa!" the first skeleton grinned at the shiny Beanstar piece. "Jus' lookit this thing sparkle an' shine! I dunno what this is, but I'm puttin' it in the hold!"

The skeleton picked it up, and ran into the ship, and only after the second skeleton ran in did the Bros finally make it back on board.

"Aw, man. They snagged the Beanstar piece." Mario groaned.

"They probably ran deeper into the ship. I'm guessing we should follow them."

"Yeah, I guess." Mario ran into the ship. Luigi followed suit and hustled inside too.

**S.S. Chuckola**

"Lissen up! This'll shock you! This ship is the world-renowned S.S. Chuckola! Uh-huh!"

"Wouldn't that mean…?" Mario realized.

"We're haulin' Chuckola Cola!" the crewmate shouted. "You hear me? Shockin', huh?"

"Ugh, I have bad memories from that soda." Luigi groaned, closing his eyes and shaking his head.

"I feel sick just thinking about it…" Mario grabbed his head as he stumbled down the stairs to his left. Luigi opened his closed eyes to see Mario was gone. He walked down the stairs to the right.

He ignored a block, seeing as he would have needed Mario to actually get stuff from it. He walked down to the lower deck, and overheard a crewmate speaking to himself quite loudly.

"That guy Bloat down in the hold drank too much Chuckola Cola, then his bones got all soft 'n' flabby like some massive baby's an' they can't get him off the wall! It's like someone got a bunch of superglue an' stuck him there!" he exclaimed. Luigi walked on when he started screaming those same words again.

He headed through the passage behind the screaming skeleton, and down to the lower level. He glimpsed a crewmate holding a Beanstar walking into the room down there, but another crewmate blocked the way seconds later.

"Uh…can I pass?" Luigi asked. The crewmate took a bone off his left arm, and smashed Luigi on the head with it, then putting it back. "OW!"

"You nuts?! The storage area's this way! If you wanna get in, you need a Membership Card for this boat! Don't ask, just present! Otherwise, you'll get more than just a bone to the head next time…"

"Ow…and how could I be a member?"

"Well, 'cause you asked, if you want a Membership Card, try doin' somethin' that'll help out this boat!"

"Any ideas?"

The crewmate reached for a bone. Luigi ran.

. . .

Mario was getting kicked about while in a curled up ball-shape by one of the crewmates.

"Hey! Stop it!" Mario cried as the cruel skeleton lobbed him into the air and did a header, sending Mario flying into a room with a red skeleton. "Mamma mia!"

The skeleton stopped Mario just by holding up his hand and stopping the flying ball of plumber. Mario crashed into the ground in a slump, and the Captain shook his head.

"Them rascals out there…always getting kicking stuff around, drinking loads of soda, doing all kinds of things, and only causing trouble." The Captain said.

"Ugh, they certainly weren't friendly…" Mario got up, and dusted himself off. "Anyhow, can I ask why this ship is in the desert? I've heard of ships, and airships, but landships? That's new to me."

"Eh? You wanna know why this ship is in a desert? Well, that's 'cause, uh, um…" the Captain thought for a moment. "See, this is a sunken ship, ya know? It uh, used to float. An' then, well…"

"It sank?"

"Yep! It sank. An', uh, time passed an' passed, an' before anyone knew it, the ocean was a desert!"

"It transformed? Man, Teehee Valley has a LOT of history." Mario said. "When did that happen?"

"Who knows? In fact, it's been so dang long, jus' lookit us! We're jus' bags of bones over here! That desert out there really skinned us!"

Mario nodded, and ran out of the room, past that mean crewmate, and down to the lower level. He ran into the room closest to him once he was down the stairs and crashed into Luigi. Then a few guys and gals trampled them as they fled from the room ahead.

"Please! Quit cryin'! I swear! THIS is why I hate hirin' these workers from out in the stocks!" the crewmate who watched this happen sighed.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Mario and Luigi asked each other while stuck to the floor. Mario and Luigi stumbled to the feet, and approached the crewmate. They put on their best helpful faces.

"Oh! Perfect timin'! We're short some people an' we're hurtin'. Yeah, we're in a huge jam. You guys look mighty reliable. You two ready to take on a little work?"

Mario and Luigi nodded.

"Excellent!" the crewmate rubbed his hands together as if he was scheming. "OK, come on through!"

Mario and Luigi followed in after the crewmate.

. . .

"Hrmm! Hrmm! I am Bink! Nice to meet you! If you get 10 Barrel points, you can be my sidekick. You win, I win…we all win! Want to Barrel?" a monkey-shaped skeleton asked as Mario and Luigi stood between a grid of squares, with levers surrounding the top and left sides.

"Sure, then. Let's get this over with."

. . .

"10 Barrel Points! Oh! Ho-ho! Not bad, friend of mine! As of today, you are now my new sidekick!" Bink cheered.

. . .

"Thanks for your hard work! You really helped us out, fellas! Unfortunately, we can't pay you with cash, so take this plastic thing instead!" the crewmate handed Mario a Membership Card. "If you ever need more work, jus' drop by, all right? We're always happy to welcome hard-workin' types like you fellas!"

The crewmate walked back to Bink's place.

"OK, bro, follow me." Luigi said. "I know what we need to do with this Membership Card."

Luigi led Mario back to the crewmate who assaulted Luigi. He let Mario do the rest.

"Show him the card." Luigi hid behind Mario as he showed the card.

"Oh! Lookit that!" the crewmate exclaimed. "You got a Membership Card right there! Whoa! Now that I know, I oughta be able to remember you by sight from now on."

The crewmate stood aside, and the Bros walked into the storage room. They saw the crewmate with the Beanstar musing over something.

"Bringin' this sparkly thing to the hold was a good idea, but where do we put it?" he wondered. Mario and Luigi jumped at the guy, and started screaming their situation to him frantically. "Whoa! Whuzzat? You say this sparkly thing is a piece of the Beanstar? And you say you two came here lookin' for it? Hmm… Really? You want this thing? Well… I GUESS I could give it to you… But I gotta tell you, this thing busted our hatch. I can't jus' give it to you for free…"

He thought for a moment.

"I got it! Jus' get that guy Bloat off the wall up ahead! Then I'll give this sparkly thing to you guys! Those are the, y'know, conditions of the trade!"

"OK, let's work fast. We gotta get this guy out, STAT." Mario said. "Hey, look at that crack above the big-boned guy. We need bombs. Luigi, I'll wait here. You can go look for the bombs."

Luigi ran out of the room, and started searching the ship. There was a weird boarded spot on the left side of the second highest level. Luigi hammered it.

"HEY! DYNAMITE FELL DOWN! IMMA GONNA LIGHT IT!" Mario called from below. Luigi nodded, and ran back. When he was back, the dynamite had exploded and Bloat was free, chuckling.

"Ohohohoho!" Bloat chuckled in front of the gaping crack in the wall.

"That crack looks like it's about to let something in." Mario noticed as the ship started shaking. Then sand shot into the ship, sending it moving towards sea.

"Bluh?! Wha's goin' on here?!" cried the Cap'n.

"C-Cap'n! It's the ocean! It's an actual ocean!" a crewmate reported.

"Oh! Is the S.S. Chuckola finally afloat once more?"

The S.S. Chuckola sped through the ocean, the rest of its days looking mighty bright, until a looming rock ceased this sadly impossible dream, and sank the ship once again, sending the Cap'n, Bink, Bloat, the crewmates, and, of course, the Mario Bros to the bottom of the sea. Mario and Luigi made a sprint for the exit, but the sand current was too strong, and sent them elsewhere. The only to escape: The Beanstar Piece

"OWWWWWEEEE! Emergency! Emergency! Mayday! Mayday!"


	31. Seabed Search

Mario and Luigi - A Superstar Story

Chapter 31: Seabed Search

**Seabed (Near S.S. Chuckola)**

Mario and Luigi came pouring out of a hole in the side of the ship, the sand pushing them out like some unwanted slices of toast.

"We need to be dubbed the Disaster Bros." Mario said.

"Yes, yes we should." Luigi agreed. "But now I'm scared, bro. Where do we go now?"

"Let's get on the ship again." Mario said, and swam up to the ship. They then swam over a ledge and into the area to the east. The Bros saw the Beanstar Piece fly over a blockade to the south.

"Oh, no. We've got to take that blockade down." Mario said. "Let's scour this place for something to work with."

"Look, bro, it's a sign!" Luigi swam over to it. "South from here is a detour to Gwarhar Lagoon…"

"Oh, boy. It must be another form of laughter." Mario thought hard to recall any times

. . .

_"Ah! You're seeing Master Mario off? A capital idea! I do believe I'll join you. Master Mario! I'm going on ahead. I shall be waiting for you in front of the Koopa Cruiser." Toadsworth said as he walked towards where the Koopa Cruiser was._

_Mario expected there to be all sorts of minions, but there was only the Koopa he had guided waiting there._

_"Where the heck is everybody?" he asked._

_"That's what I'm thinking!" Mario replied._

_"Maybe they're late…" Luigi thought._

_"MARIO!" a voice yelled. Mario looked around, and realized it was Bowser, who was on the deck of the Koopa Cruiser. "You're late! What were you doing?"_

_"I was gathering information, helping people and receiving what could be life-saving items for the journey! Sheesh, it's not like your forces aren't later than me!" Mario shouted back._

_"Eh, I'll deal with them later… Anyway, we're leaving! Right now! So get on board, and make it snappy!" Bowser ordered._

_Mario shrugged, jumped on board, and landed next to Bowser._

_"Gwa ha ha ha! Well? So? What do you think? Incredible, isn't it? This is my newest weapon: the Koopa Cruiser!"_

_"Eh, not bad."_

_"Hmm… Yes, very good… Now all I need are my baddies…" Bowser pondered. "Bowser Baddies!"_

_Luigi continued to wave with the hand he was holding his hat in, while the lone Koopa waited for something to happen. Everyone then stared at Bowser._

_"GAAH! Where are they?!" Bowser raged, and then he noticed Luigi waving and jumping there. "Huh? What in green blazes…? Hey! You! Are you signing up to join my crew of Bowser Baddies?"_

_Luigi continued waving and jumping._

_"I see! I see! You want me to bring you along that badly, huh?"_

_Luigi put his hat back on, and looked around._

_"Me?" Luigi asked._

_"Yes, you!"_

_Luigi started shaking his head rapidly._

_"Gwa ha ha har! Oh, that's rich!" Bowser chuckled. "Don't be modest, Mr. Green! I mean, you look like a real pain, but I'll take you anyway!"_

_Luigi made a run for it._

. . .

"Well, it's similar to a form of laughter at the very least." Mario noted as they traversed across the high seabed they were on. Spikes would be met if they fell off, along with a plethora of Bloopers who wished to become acquaintances. Mario had peeked over the edge beside the sign. "Yeah…even if we're underwater, let's try not to fall."

Luigi nodded, and walked along the high ground carefully, as if he was being followed by someone other than Mario. In the corner of his eyes, he saw two Bloopers. Bubbles bubbled before both Bloopers bombed Luigi, who had lunged at a hole in the wall. Mario swam over to it, and lit the hole needing another logic-defying fire. The blockade sank into the seabed, and Mario went over to help Luigi.

Even a Goomdiver had joined the beating. Mario removed the invisible bystander badge that he felt had been stamped on to him after he had gawked at them playing some kind of keepy-up game with ink and headbutts, with Luigi as what they were keeping up. He slammed a Blooper into the spikes with his hammer, and Luigi was free to drill into the face of the Goomdiver.

"Sorry for not wanting to play…" Luigi whimpered as he then bounced into the other Blooper, and Mario smashed that one into the spikes, too.

"Typical Luigi," Mario thought. "Would feel horribly guilty just by accidentally stepping on an ant on the sidewalk back home."

The other Blooper Mario had smashed into the spikes shot into Luigi's face.

"B-But I said sorry…" Luigi moaned. Mario pounced the Blooper again, then hurled Luigi at the Blooper, knocking it into the spikes to not come back up again from. "WAH!"

Mario caught Luigi before he landed on the spikes, and he swam him over to where the blockade was.

"Now, let's get moving." Mario said, as they moved on south. They carefully dodged the Cheep Cheeps in the next section, but they wound up in a Malibut field, where they were having their afternoon nap. Luigi accidentally kicked one of the pillows being slept on, and the creature sleeping on it growled awake.

"Oh, no…they were napping on the seabed. And I disturbed them…" Luigi looked rather worried as two Malibut in particular approached them with a Cheep Cheep.

Luigi sea-stomped the Cheep Cheep, and it puffed/spiked up, tackling him before Luigi could run. It grinned as Mario's hammer's head fell off as he tried hitting it. The Cheep Cheep de-puffed/de-spiked himself while the two Malibut who were now sleeping shot snot bubbles at the Bros. Luigi hurled himself at the smug Cheep Cheep, and after rolling about it madly, it was crushed by Luigi's weight, and defeated.

Mario walked over to the first Malibut, and burned its pillow, snickering. The Malibut glared at him, and nearly beaned him with a couple of spare pillows. While Mario reflected them both with that hammer of his, one of them hit the Malibut in the face, and put it back to sleep. The two Malibut just squirted Luigi with a pair of snot bubbles.

"Can we end this with Rally Bros?" Luigi asked. Mario nodded, and allowed Luigi to pound his head in and smash him into the second Malibut. It survived the first impact, but the second was too much, and Mario literally destroyed the Malibut.

"How about we practice Swing Bros?" Mario suggested, pointing at the other Malibut after curling out of his ball form. Luigi ran at Mario, and he grabbed him. They spun like a literal tornado, or in this case, more like a hurricane, and Mario let go of Luigi. The plumber was like a green missile, and blasted the Malibut in the face, sending it out the wrong side of the seabed.

_Mario levelled up to Level 22! Mario got an extra +5HP!_

_Luigi levelled up to Level 22! Luigi got an extra +5BP!_

Then a Starkiss tried to get all up in Luigi's face, and he yelped, smashing Mario into its face by performing Knockback Bros. Mario had to face the painful "love" the Starkiss had as he defeated it.

Luigi grinned sheepishly as Mario glared at him. Then, with a Swing Bros, one of the two Malibuts in the group were no more. Snot bubbles were blasted at Mario, and he withstood that snotty substances, as he was in the water, and washed off into the ocean.

"Ew…it's worse than letting out your urine in the swimming pool." Luigi looked away as he was belted in the head by a pillow.

"Hey, I had to." Mario was blasted into the final Malibut's face, and defeated it. They collected a Hoo Bean from a block, and swam to the east. There was a hole in the wall nearby, and it had this arrow on the opening. Luigi hammered Mario without warning, picked him up, and slotted him through the opening.

Moments later, he came out another, coral separating them. He walked around it until he passed a blocked gate without another jellyfish switch, then eventually saw a spot for another logic-defying fire. This burned a fire switch, activating it behind the scenes and causing a yellow chunk of coral to disappear.

Luigi ran over, and un-shrunk Mario. The red plumber then pointed at the jellyfish switch, and Luigi zapped it. The creepy Beanbean Gate opened. The Bros carried on through, and Luigi read a sign.

"Up would lead us to Gwarhar Lagoon, if this sign speaks the truth." Luigi explained. Mario nodded, and they swam up into the yellow pipe on top of the wall they just read that sign from.


	32. Shocking Massages

**In the end, I split the last chapter in half. This is the other half of it.**

* * *

Mario and Luigi - A Superstar Story

Chapter 32: Shocking Massages

**Gwarhar Lagoon**

"AIR!" Mario cheered. "I hate being underwater…it makes me feel like I'm a fish.

Mario and Luigi bashed out the first Bros Block they saw, and stretched their feet, running to the east.

"Hey…" a voice trailed. "Have you heard those rumours about Prince Peasley?"

There were two natives on the beach, casually chatting. Mario and Luigi started to eavesdrop by camouflaging themselves into the sand before the eastern exit.

"Boy, I have!" the other native replied, shaking her hand about. "Lemme tell you! He's running around hunting high and low for something…"

"The Beanstar Pieces." Mario concluded under the sand. "We still haven't found the one we're after, though."

"Yeah, the young prince is in a pickle, and that's no lie! I wonder if he'll come this way?"

"If the Beanstar Piece survived, hopefully he doesn't come." Luigi muttered. "Not that he would, seeing as he doesn't know the new-OW, OW, OW!"

A native sprinting towards the other two was screaming.

"You've _GOT _to hear this!" she cried, kicking Mario and Luigi out of the sand and knocking 'em aside, the two of them landing face-flat. "I'm back with humonstrous news and incredibling rumours!"

"Whoa!" the first native gasped, her eyes bulging. "Is it about that strange-looking shining bean-thing that fell from the sky?"

"Wait…" the second thought for a moment. "Yeah, is it that one everyone is saying Hermie found drifting along the lagoon?"

"Yeah, the same! Hermie took that bean-thing and decorated his shell with it! That's the word, anyway." The third continued. "I hear he looks just like a festive holiday tree… Too bad the holiday season's been over for a few months now, it would have suited him perfectly. But still, it sounds like he looks _fabulous!_"

"WOW! KER-RAZY! COOL!"

"We REALLY should go take a look at it!"

"Yeah! That's a fantabulous idea! Let's do it!" the natives all ran off to the east, kicking more sand on the Bros' backs.

…one of them came back.

"If you two just lie there all day, you'll get wicked sunburned." One of the natives warned, running off afterwards.

"Ugh, sand tastes horrible." Mario spat out the grains of sand that had got caught in his mouth as Luigi managed to get up to his feet. There was a sign on a rock wall to the east which Luigi went ahead and read once they reached it.

"North is the Jellyfish Sisters' Relaxation Room." Luigi read. "What's south, though…"

Mario had already given in to the curiosity, and gasped. There was a chubby green Koopa blocking the way ahead down there.

"He doesn't look very happy. Maybe asking him nicely will get us through.

"Um…can we pass, please?" Mario asked.

"No."

"Well, that was a bust." Mario said, walking back to Luigi.

"Did you try tackling him?" Luigi suggested. Mario ran at the Koopa, and bounced off its bouncy underbelly, rolling back a bit.

"Derr…" the Koopa drooled. "No matter what you hit me with, you can't knock me down. I think…"

"The guy showed uncertainness! There's a way!" Mario pointed out.

"Let's find it!" Luigi said, walking north. "But first, let's relax in that Relaxation Room. I like the sound of it."

**Gwarhar Lagoon – Jellyfish Sisters' Relaxation Room**

Mario and Luigi walked along the soft, comfy flooring if the Relaxation Room. It seemed like the person who built this place really did have comfort in mind. Mario reached the counter, and there stood a small jellyfish girl, waiting to take some orders.

"Welcome, travellers! This is the Relaxation Room, where we ease your weary body and spirit! Our massage masters use their miracle hands to give you a gentle, calming massage. 100 gets one individual a thorough, if brief, rubdown!" she started once she figured out the duo would be potential customers.

"But we both, I think, want massages." Luigi said.

"Well, I guess I can tweak this list some more and see what I can do…but for the both of you it'd be only 200 coins." She said after some thought.

"Please!" Luigi said, handing a bag of 200 coins.

"Great! That comes to the fine total of 200 coins in advance…" she trailed, accepting the bag. "Thank you very much! Now then, you can it on the comfy red and green chairs in that room and wait."

Mario landed in the red chair, so Luigi took the green chair.

"Huh, bro…it's almost as if these chairs were made JUST for us, considering they're both red and green." Luigi noticed.

"Well, at lot of things are red and green in this kingdom. Those two jellyfish sisters floating down here, for example." Mario pointed behind his chair. The two jellyfish stood to the left of their respectively coloured bro. "Actually, these chairs were probably made to go with the colour of these two, now that I think about it."

"Oh, hey there!" the red jellyfish pulled the kind of blue stretchy thing on her head far out as she smiled at Mario. "How're you? Super! I'm Gigi. Now, let's get right to it! Show me where you're sore. That very stressed out part!"

"Ooh! Show me yours, too! Please! 'Cause I'm Merri, and I despise soreness!" Merri was doing exactly what Gigi was doing, except with Luigi. "It's my sworn enemy, so show me!"

Of course, the Bros had no idea which part of their body was the sorest, so they waited.

"Oh, look at this…" Gigi noticed, staring at the incredibly worn out gloves. "Your hands are so very, very tired…"

Merri decided to check Luigi's hands to see if he had the same problem, and…

"…And you, too! This awful! Your hands are so tired, they look ready to hibernate!"

"Now, don't worry! Our miraculous hands will gently coax the weariness from you. Promise!" Gigi and Merri started to massage the Bros' left hands with electricity and fire, respectively.

Eventually, Gigi's fire massage stimulated the firepower in Mario's hand, and his hand was surrounded by a spinning ball of flames. Gigi screamed.

"Oh! Jeepers! What's this?! Wowser! I mean, DOUBLE WOWSER! You've mastered the Firebrand!?" She was lost for words.

Mario waggled his hand, and that seemed to get rid of the fire, but at that very moment, Luigi's hand sparked, and a ball of electricity surrounded it.

"Oh my goodness! How shocking!" Merri yelped. Mario burst into laughter. "You've mastered the Thunderhand!"

Luigi waggled his hand, and that once again did the trick. Gigi and Merri walked to the spot in front of the chairs.

"You guys aren't ordinary travellers, are you?" Gigi asked.

"Aren't you two fascinating! As miracle hand technicians, we're masters of hands like yours!" Merri informed the Bros.

"Oh, yes! That's SO true, Merri! Why, with your Hand Powers, you could even get those…"

"ANYWAY…" Merri started. "I've gotta say, you guys don't need massages! Instead, we'll do you one better: We'll teach you two very special Hand techniques!"

"What do you say?"

"Aw, no massages. We paid good money for those…" Luigi mumbled.

"Teach us, then."

"Yes! I knew you'd say that!" Gigi cheered, jumping in the air, grinning. "Let the lesson begin!"

"We'll show you two guys two absolutely incredible techniques that'll make your hands magical!"

"Those who don't listen will get left behind! Buh-bye!"

A trap-door / elevator revealed itself on the chairs, and the chairs slowly took the Bros down into a cave, where they got off, and waited for tutoring. The Jellyfish Sisters floated down, of course, and Merri pointed a finger at Luigi.

"You're first, Green Bean!" Merri shouted. "First, select your Hand Power, then build it up by charging, and when you just can't contain the electricity, when you're about to explode… Let go of all that energy and zap your partner!"

Merri did just that with Gigi, who was apparently shocked and frozen.

"When you electrify the person in front of you with this move… you walk around like you're stuck together, unable to turn around until it wears off!" Merri demonstrated. "Yeah! Make 'em feel it! _Right down the spine! Make it singly!_ Send a big jolt of electricity racing down the back! Yeah!"

"So, with electrical tickle power, you can push things with your back or walk from side to side. And now, the time has come to use it!" Merri darted over to a wall, back to it. "Are you excited? Great! Try to bump into me with your back! _Come on! Bring it!_"

"Um…" Luigi paused, looking unsure. "OK?"

Luigi charged up electricity, until he was about to crackle with power, which at that moment, he released it, and Mario yelped, freezing. Luigi stepped backwards, and bumped Merri.

"Nice! Yowser! Wowser!" Merri giggled as she walked back to Gigi. "Wow! You're a tickle technician!"

Gigi finally spoke up.

"It's your turn next, Red. Just change positions, OK?" Gigi instructed. "Now, select your Hand Power… Charge it up your Fire Power, and when you feel the fiery power build to a dangerous level… when you're just about to ignite… release all that energy, and burn your partner!"

"AH-YEEEAH!" Merri cried, dashing forward while Gigi was holding on to Merri. They ran all the way east to a wall, then all the way back.

"Right down that spine…_ Tickle boldly! With power!_" Gigi preached._ "_Make 'em feel tickle fever as it burns, burns, BURRRRNS! Yeah! You can use this move to dash super-fast or even knock stuff over! Feel the power! Super! Then let's get you a little practical experience!"

Gigi and Merri super-dashed over to the heavy gray ball in question that they wished to be moved.

"Move this ball!" Gigi said. Mario walked behind Luigi, and lit up his backside. They darted into the ball, and it rolled forward quite a bit. "Nice! Super! Duper! You're a tickle technician!"

. . .

"Super! And that's all we have to teach you!" Gigi finished.

"Oh! Gigi!" Merri cried. "I know this is being super-picky, but you're forgetting one thing!"

"Oh! That's right! Of course… When you want to stop dashing… Turn in any direction other than the one you're running in, or just hold your feet out and skid to a stop! Truly, THIS time, we've taught you everything that we can."

"Can we go now?" Luigi asked.

"…Now that that's done, we have a little job for you!" Merri started, wagging her finger, grinning.

"That's right, Merri! We need you to use that technique to get the two Pearl Beans in this cave!"

"Your power is much, much more powerful than ours!" Merri stated. "That's why you can get the two Pearl Beans!"

"Probably because we touched those orb things instead of getting it naturally." Mario thought to himself.

"Listen, I don't mean to be a pill, but if you refuse, you'll have to pay for your lesson…"

"But didn't we pay in advance?" Luigi recalled.

"That was for the massage. This is the lesson, sorry about that."

"So it'll cost you 100,000 coins!"

"Now I wish we won that bet already." Mario muttered.

"OK! All right! Hurry! Do it! We need both Pearl Beans! Yeah! Woo! Go! GO!" Merri cheered or urged; it was hard for the Bros to tell what she was doing, but at the very least, it made them run onwards across the bridge, then the left one.

Mario and Luigi saw a Boo statue, and a sign on a wall. Luigi read it.

"Gwarhar Lagoon. Mysterious Items, Part 1." Luigi started. "The Boo Statue. This is a beautiful statue carved in the likeness of the shy paranormal spirit, Boo. If you stare wistfully at its spooooooky beauty… it will vanish with a POOF! Invisible and untouchable. That is how mysterious it is."

Mario nodded, trying to figure the Boo Statue that was no longer there out.

"You know, bro... how about we try coming at this thing from the side? Then we can move it to the left, and hopefully it'll trigger something." Luigi suggested, zapping Mario and causing him to freeze up. Together, they moved, around the Boo, and once to the right of it, they pushed it to the left, without facing it. A bridge appeared.

In the next section, there was another Boo Statue that was pushed in a similar fashion. Another bridge appeared. They moved onwards, to an area with moving spiky, metallic logs. There was also a sign on a wall before the metallic pad with the rolling stuff. Luigi read it.

"Gwarhar Lagoon Bulletin Board." Luigi began. "Serious flaw revealed in the Rolling Bar Defense System! It is possible for two infilitrators to slip between rolling bars and walk sideways through the system! Improvements to the system must be undertaken immediately for the safety of the Pearl Bean!"

"Yeah…" Mario saw this coming, milliseconds before Luigi zapped him, causing him to freeze up, twitching occasionally. They walked sideways along with the rolling bars, and darted forward when they met the way forward. Then there was a the Green Pearl Bean, glimmering in its shell. Luigi picked it up.

. . .

"Oh, good! Oh, good! SO GOOD!" Merri screamed, Gigi distraught from the speed and actual delivery of the Green Pearl Bean. "A Green Pearl Bean!"

Merri was overjoyed from this, and Gigi felt left out.

"N-Next is the Red Pearl Bean! Oh, get it! Please! Hurry! Quickly, now!" Gigi cheered or urged. "OK! All right! Hurry! Do it! We need both Pearl Beans! Yeah! Woo! Go! GO!"

Mario and Luigi were once again shooed by this, and went right this time. They headed straight across the bridge, turned, and went east across the bridge, until they locked eyes with another overweight Koopa.

"How about we tackle him at high-speed?" Mario suggested. "Let's knock him over."

Luigi shook his head. He did not want to be a ramming wall of meat, but clearly he was, because he was lit up just like meat. He yelped, and darted forward, knocking the Koopa off the edge in his haste. He cooled down, and skidded to a stop.

"Overkill. Literally." Mario said as he lit Luigi up again to ram another Koopa on another bridge over. This one didn't fall off the edge, but instead got up again.

"AHH! How did THAT happen? You guys are no slouches!" he said, walking away. North was another area similar to the final one before the Green Pearl Bean. There was another sign here.

"Gwarhar Lagoon Bulletin Board." Luigi said. "Serious flaw revealed in Rolling Bar Defense System! It is possible to pass through without hitting bars by running hastily in the space between bars! Improvements to the system must be undertaken immediately for the safety of the Pearl Beans! Wait, you're not-"

Luigi yelped, and darted forward, Mario latching on to him, and getting carried along the metallic flooring to the area with the Red Pearl Bean. Mario picked it up as Luigi put out his backfire, due to him reading the sign and that backfiring on him (ho-ho!).

. . .

"Oh, yeah! Nice! Sooo nice! A Red Pearl Bean!" Gigi squealed as Mario handed it to her. "I wanted this so bad!"

. . .

Mario and Luigi had rode the red and green chairs out of the cave. Gigi and Merri had fallen asleep from their excitement, so the Bros excused themselves. They left the Relaxation Room, and took down the Koopa outside. He fell in the water, and floated off to who-knows-where.

"Looks like it's time to go looking for that Beanstar Piece!" Mario said, skipping across the skipping stones as Luigi dipped his backside in the lagoon, trying to cool it down.


	33. Lollygagging on the Lagoon

**As of now, I'm done with over three fifths of this story! :D**

**If I keep up the good pace, I'll finish by May, even. Possibly April if I work fast. ^^**

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Mario and Luigi - A Superstar Story

Chapter 33: Lollygagging on the Lagoon

Mario and Luigi had only walked a short distance before a pair of Elite Troopeas tackled them into a battle. Even after the massage, the Bros were a bit worn out from all the adventuring, and were thus weak. They fought on, nevertheless, though.

Luigi stomped the first of the Elites, and was hurled into it again by Mario through use of Swing Bros. The other Elite then gurgled up some spit, then spat at the ground beside it, causing the other Troopea to return suddenly. The revived Troopea then spat on itself, and looked nearly as good as new.

"Hey, I think I've got an idea for a new move!" Luigi realized. "So, basically, we have to do this… and that… then this… while doing that… so I hope this works! I call it Thunder Bros!"

"I actually like that idea. Let's try it…" Mario trailed, then realizing something. "…later."

"Why not now, bro?" Luigi asked.

"Well, these guys probably are resistant to elements. Those shells look really durable. We need to hit them with Bounce Bros, I guess." Mario explained.

Luigi fluttered above Mario's head, and they performed Bounce Bros, like normal. This knocked out the Elite Troopea again, and Mario quickly grabbed Luigi as the Troopea started gathering spit, spinning him around, until they were whirling like a spinner. Mario let go of Luigi, and he smashed into the Elite Troopea like a rock to the head. This knocked it out before it could gather enough spit.

"Phew, those guys are going to be a huge pain if they're gonna be everywhere here."

Mario and Luigi then headed east around some trees, knocked over a fat Koopa thanks to the power of fire burning Luigi and causing him to ram and knock over the fat Koopa blocking the way into a yellow pipe.

"It looks like we're going back underwater." Mario realized.

"Oh, boy…" Luigi moaned as they fell down the pipe and exited, now in water again. A wall of coral and sea plant guarded them from the ravaging Cheep Cheeps, but there was a hole low enough for them to escape from their own little safe zone. Mario and Luigi swam out of it, grabbed some items from a south area, and spin-jumped into a small underwater tornado, which took them up to a higher level with a yellow pipe leading back on to aboveground.

They climbed up out of it, back into fresh air, and headed south. There were rolling spike logs. Luigi zapped Mario's spine, and they walked, connected, between the metal spike logs. They slowly stepped to their right, and eventually made it to the escape route. They moved on south, and there were fast rolling metal spike logs.

Mario burned Luigi's backside, and sent him running straight ahead. Mario grabbed Luigi quickly, and was dragged along, past the spike logs and down south. The green plumber skidded to a stop, tripping over an Elite Troopea seconds before he reached a complete one. The Troopea groaned, and threw Luigi off. Mario caught him, and continued him into a spin, which ended up being Swing Bros.

Mario hurled Luigi into the Troopea he didn't trip over, and that destroyed the darned thing. The Gritty Goomba performed his sandstorm attack, and struck Mario hard in the gut. The remaining Troopea spat at the ground where the other Troopea once was, and it returned, just like that, to suddenly try and tackle Luigi. He kicked the Troopea away, scared, and that clonked the Gritty Goomba in the face.

Mario kicked it into the Troopea who hadn't died yet, and watched it explode in defeat. The flashy explosion dazed Luigi, and he was hit by the withdrawn Troopea. Luigi took out some Super Nuts, and the Bros at them, recovering most of their health. Mario quickly finished off the Troopea before it started reviving, and was then tackled by the Gritty Goomba.

Luigi sparked the Gritty Goomba, and watched Mario smash it into the sand. Once the dust cleared, the enemy was no longer in sight.

"Well, I guess we could move on now." Mario said, dusting his hands. A pair of Troopeas and a Gritty Goomba stopped them. "Maybe not."

Luigi struck the Gritty Goomba where it hurt, and watched it succumb to the damage and collapse, exploding in defeat. Mario and Luigi performed Drill Bros on the first Troopea, destroying it. After Mario was smashed while his guard was down, they then finished off that last Troopea with Bounce Bros.

They carried on south, and were challenged by some Boomerang Bros and a Gritty Goomba.

"Now, let's try that Thunder Bros of yours, then." Mario suggested. Luigi nodded, and charged up a thunderball behind Mario. He jumped off Mario's head when he was fully charged, and when he was in the middle of the triangle the three enemies made, he shot down and zapped all the enemies. "Oh, and I've got an idea that involves some fire. Feeling up to it?"

Mario explained the move to Luigi. He nodded, and Mario hurled a fireball at Luigi in an arc. It hit him, and the plumber yelped, running into one of the Boomerang Bros by accident. A Gritty Goomba charged Luigi when he walked back to Mario, and the Boomerang Bros hit both Bros with their boomerangs, totalling major damage.

Luigi shared some Nuts with Mario, and their health was healed again. Mario smashed one of the Boomerang Bros with his hammer, but the head fell off, and he did minor damage. The Gritty Goomba charged Luigi again, but was hammered away this time. The Bros were hit by one of the Boomerang Bros' boomerangs, but not the other.

Luigi smashed Mario into one of the Boomerang Bros, doing Knockback Bros and finishing it off with style. Mario hammered the Gritty Goomba, and that was defeated, too. The Bro hurled a boomerang in an upward arc and Mario, but the plumber luckily jumped over it, even though he couldn't currently see it.

After a hammering and a stomping, the Bro fell to the ground.

_Mario grew to Level 23! Mario got an extra +2POW!_

_Luigi grew to Level 23! Luigi got an extra +5HP!_

Mario and Luigi ran away, to a floating platform. Luigi read a nearby sign.

"Apparently, if we spin-jump into this, it'll move in the direction we're going when we hit it." Luigi said.

"Let's test it, then." Mario decided.

Mario and Luigi spin-jumped the platform to the left, and it hit a high wall of ground. The Bros high-jumped on to the platform, and jumped up on to the high ground. They then jumped down, and headed to the west. There, they headed straight, turned left, missing out on a block, and reaching a stone that led out into the sea. There was one a fair distance away, just sitting there, and one straight ahead, with land behind it.

"There's something up there, definitely." Mario noticed.

"Well, we better find a way across because we sink like stones, remember? I'd rather not drown in the ocean…" Luigi winced.

"Hey, there's two paths. Let's try the left path." Mario suggested.

They headed left. A Boomerang Bro and two Gritty Goombas jumped them. Mario and Luigi took out the Bro with Knockback Bros. Mario took down one Goomba with Chopper Bros. Luigi finished off the other with another combined effort of Knockback Bros. They continued west past a map and found a few fish-like things swimming in the sand.

"Hey! There's stuff swimming in the sand! Sand Sharks!" Luigi pointed at the shadows moving about in the sand with a large dark blue fin protruding out. A green Cheep Cheep with that fin taped on splashed out. "Oh, never mind. It's a green Cheep Cheep. We should try and avoid it, and those other shadows with those fins, though. I'm scared to think what might lurk under the sand where they are. Maybe actual sandsharks."

Mario and Luigi trod carefully, but three shadows surrounded and ambushed them. Three possible Cheep Cheep lookalikes, but the only thing they could see were the blue fins (and for the sake of reference, the alias being used for them will be "Things").

"These definitely could be sharks." Mario pointed out, then realizing this just unnerved Luigi. He grumbled to himself, annoyed he even uttered the words as Luigi started shaking. "We better be on guard, indeed. Choose your target carefully. Make sure you destroy the most dangerous one…whichever that is, Luigi."

Luigi eventually got the courage to decide which Thing to attack. He zapped the front one, and watched it shiver in the sand. It then dived into the sand, out of sight, to pop out in front of Mario as just a green Cheep Cheep who went over his head harmlessly. Mario sighed in relief. Then another Thing swam towards him in the sand.

After an unnerving silence, the Thing's body popped out, to appear to be a skeleton skeleton shark. It gnawed on Mario briefly before diving again. Mario turned purple. The third Things swam towards Luigi. It was also a skeleton shark, and chomped through Luigi. The three Things swapped in a counter-clockwise fashion.

"Are you OK, bro?" Luigi asked. Mario gagged. Luigi looked a bit scared. Mario held his hand up as if to tell Luigi to stop, or something of the sort. Mario reached for the suitcase, and took out a herb. He gulped it down, and his skin returned to normal.

"See? I'm fine, Luigi." Mario assured. Luigi nodded, then zapped a Thing out of existence. A Thing jumped out of the sand to be the same green Cheep Cheep from before. It went right over Luigi's head. The two Things swapped places. The other Thing approached Mario, popped out as a skeleton shark, and was jumped over. The Things swapped again.

Mario hurled Luigi at the first Thing, and it was destroyed thanks to the destructive power of Swing Bros, and Luigi finished off the last Thing with a stomp. Mario and Luigi took a moment to chug some Syrup and wolf down some Mushrooms to restore their HP and BP. Mario and Luigi dodged some more Things and made it inside a yellow pipe.

Now underwater again, Mario and Luigi headed north after grabbing a Hoo Bean from a block to the side, and were bumped by two Cheep Cheeps who were in a rush. Mario stopped the fish, and got ready to beat down on them. Luigi screamed when he saw the frightening contraption floating behind Mario.

He turned around to see what the fuss was, and looked a bit stunned. There was a mechanical blooper triple the size of a normal one and was floating horizontally. Its tentacles were Bullet Bills.

"It's a Robo-Blooper!" Mario pointed at the Mecha-Blooper. "Quick, zap it before it shoots!"

Luigi shot a ball of a electricity at the Mecha-Blooper. It blinked upon damage, and shot a Bullet Bill at Mario, and four at Luigi. Luigi actually jumped and dodged half of his, but Mario just wasn't ready for the shot. He shook it off, and pounded the Cheep Cheep, causing it to puff up and get spiky. The other Cheep Cheep bashed him, and the spiky Cheep Cheep defeated via hammer defence.

The Mecha-Blooper's missiles were reloaded.

"Hey, look! It reloaded!" Luigi cried. "It's gonna bombard us again!"

"Quick, zap it before it shoots!" Mario ordered, Luigi zapping it up close and running away. The Mecha-Blooper blinked again, and it shot out a single Bullet Bill at Mario, which he jumped over. "Wow, that was less threatening than last time by a large margin."

Mario took the time to pound the Cheep Cheep into the seabed. Upon impact, the Cheep Cheep was defeated. The Mecha-Blooper shot out another Bullet Bill at Luigi. He jumped over it.

"There was once a time we found this thing threatening." Mario stated as Luigi zapped it one last time, causing it to explode. Mario and Luigi made a break for it to a underwater tornado, and spun into it, heading southeast swimming with the boosted height. Landing on high ground back there, they were attacked by a Starkiss. Luigi pounded it, and Mario was hit by a heart. Mario simply just crushed it under his well-used feet.

There were two Malibuts in the way. Luigi kicked it out of the way softly but it woke up and clonked Luigi with a pillow. Mario went through the exact same pattern, except he crushed the Malibut rather than stepped on it, and got clonked on the head with a pillow.

The two sleeping squids shot bubbles at the duo which were jumped over. Luigi kicked the first Malibut again, and it rolled away, probably knocked out. Mario hammered the last Malibut, and dropped his hammer and as a result was hit by a pillow. Luigi jumped over the Malibut's bubbles again. Luigi jolted the Malibut awake, and hammered away the two pillows thrown. Mario smashed the Malibut with his hammer, and it was crushed into dust.

The Bros headed east, and found three Hoo Beans in hidden blocks before going back the other way. They spun up the tornado and landed on higher ground to the north. They continued in that direction, and dodged the Starkiss that were trotting around the turning path, until a pair swept them off their feet.

The Bros reacted fast, bounced to their feet, and Luigi stomped one. Mario was hit by a heart, but crushed another. He burned a Starkiss to dust, and Luigi crushed the other.

_Mario levelled up to Level 24! Mario got an extra +2 STACHE!_

_Luigi levelled up to Level 24! Luigi got an extra +5BP!_

They headed south, and found the yellow pipe leading back up to the surface.

. . .

There was a Boo Statue. They pushed it thanks to some zapping. Something happened.

"Well, I guess we're done here. Let's go see what happened." Mario decided. Eventually, they found that the area with the lone stone there had some more friends in a line. Four more stones had appeared, totalling to six connected to the beach, and still that one on the other side, waiting for the Bros to make it there.

"I think we have to push a few more statues to get to the other side, bro." Luigi realized.

"Then let's get to work." Mario said.


	34. Lagoon Mysteries

**If anyone's interested at all, or even wondered after three days, which I highly doubt but find a need to mention this since it explains why I may disappear off the face of the internet for a while. My old internet's temporarily died on me, so I've gotta use other means to pump out chapters. I can still write to an extent, though, so it's all good on that department. So this internet I'm using blocks this website sometimes, so that's all I have to say. :P**

**This one's a shorty. We haven't had one of these stumpy guys for quite a while... and I certainly never missed them. If you ask me, short chapters can take their size problems elsewhere, because I don't stretch things out.**

**Personification. I rule at it, apparently.**

* * *

Mario and Luigi - A Superstar Story

Chapter 34: Lagoon Mysteries

Luigi bounced off Mario's head and shot a thunderball at the ground, creating a large circle of electricity at the sand, zapping both Boomerang Bros and the Gritty Goomba. Mario burned the Gritty Goomba to dust, but a boomerang knocked him out afterwards. Luigi grabbed Mario and took the next boomerang for him, and then fed him a 1-UP Super, reviving him.

Mario jumped over another boomerang, but Luigi was hit by one this time. Then Mario was hit by the boomerang, and Luigi jumped over it. They performed another Thunder Bros, lowering the Bros defences further.

"I'm really starting to like this move. It seems to lower these guys' guard." Mario stated. "I mean, just looking at them, you can tell we're able to do MUCH more damage to them."

Luigi nodded and ran at Mario, getting hurled about and chucked into the second Bro, defeating it upon contact. He then stomped the last Bro, and Mario burned it, actually healing it.

"Hey, hey! Thanks for that little restoration! Mind doing that again?" the Boomerang Bro asked with a larger smirk. Luigi zapped the thing out of their sight.

"I suddenly have a greater hatred for those Boomerang Bros." Mario said as they looked up at the Boo Statue they had moved earlier. "Now, we went west from here. Let's try south."

They jumped up a staircase of ledges, and made it to a black block. Mario bonked it, and a heavy ball appeared waaaaay down the high path, blocking the rest of the path to another black block. Mario burned Luigi's backside and made him dash them both into the ball, pushing it out of the way and into the wall at the end. Mario bashed the black block, and some stones appeared as a bridge, allowing them to travel across to another island to the east.

The Bros jumped down, and headed east. A Thing jumped Mario, and two more surrounded them. Luigi quickly scarfed down a Super Mushroom, and yelped as a skeleton shark popped out of the sand and chomped the exposed Mario, the attack however making Mario get back on this feet.

A Thing approached Luigi, and he started getting all scared about the Thing being another skeleton. He jumped when the sand moved, and was hit on the forehead by a green Cheep Cheep.

"I feel duped…" Luigi groaned, his moping getting him chomped my a skeleton shark suddenly. "OUCH!"

Mario hurled Luigi at a Thing through use of Swing Bros. It hit the front Thing dead-on. Luigi bounced off Luigi's head, and shot electricity down in the sand as Mario jumped as he was quite close. He went over the jolts, and watched as a skeleton shark popped out, biting at Luigi in rage. It headed towards Mario, popped out, tried to bite him, and was stomped and defeated.

The other Thing popped out of the sand as a Cheep Cheep, but Mario had thought otherwise and jumped, getting hit in the head. He pounded the Thing, and defeated it. They continued south, then west. They jumped up some ledges to the south, and bonked a black block.

Another appeared on some high ground only accessible through spin-jumping from the northernmost point of this ground they were on. They quickly stood there, spun across and bashed the block. A third block appeared all the way on the other side of the ground they were on, and now a black ball had appeared to block their way.

Mario speed-burned Luigi, and they dashed the black ball out of the way, and hit the block, creating more stones that took them further west. There, there was a Boo Statue. They triggered it the way they did the last one. Stones appeared before the Bros, allowing them to return to the area with the first Boo Statue by heading north for a bit.

Heading back east, the Bros could see some more stones had appeared in the line. They walked across them, hoping to finally get to the Beanstar Piece. Instead, it was just a small patch of land. However, there WAS a stone in the distance, but what else was there was hard to make out.

The Bros headed back and this time went to their immediate left. There was another platform that you could push with spin power floating in the air. The Bros pushed it into a pillar to the north, then pushed it to the east. Finally, they pushed it north into a wall. They jumped up some ledges, in the northwest, and spin-jumped on to the platform, then on to the some land with the third Boo Statue.

"They really should make these harder to access, if they're gonna try." Mario said as he was zapped and forced to push the Boo Statue. "That was a pretty boring puzzle."

They jumped to the east, and headed south, a pair of Elite Troopeas stopping them. Luigi stomped one. Mario hurled Luigi into the other, defeating it.

"Hmm…" Mario thought. "ADVANCE!"

"Huh?"

"I've got an idea for Swing Bros! So, we basically do this…" Mario explained his brilliant idea in such an incoherent tone that no one could note down what exactly was said, and therefore was replaced with a placeholder in the record of this occasion.

The lone Troopea revived its friend with some saliva, then the revived Troopea returned the favour by healing the very Troopea who revived him. Luigi stomped the first Troopea once again.

"OK, let's try what I'd like to call…Vacuum Bros." Mario said after destroying the second Troopea with a heavy hammer attack and watching Luigi stomp the once again lone Troopea.

Mario hurled Luigi at the Troopea, causing devastating damage and making the Troopea dazed, dizzy and cross-eyed. As Luigi bounced off the Troopea and fell towards Mario, the red plumber leaped at Luigi and they grabbed each other's hands as they started spinning like a fan together. They hovered above the Troopea, and sucked away a bag from it, smashing the Troopea again and defeating it, letting go of each other upon the finishing blow.

They checked the bag they got, and found absolutely nothing inside.

"Darn, the guy had nothing." Mario groaned. "Well, at least I know this move sucks away items from enemies like a vacuum for sure, now."

. . .

Now back at the patch of land where the line of stones ended, there were now more stones leading to the other side at last. They took a lunch break on the stones to refill their HP and BP, then got ready to move on.

"Well, looks like we can cross completely now." Mario said. "Let's go get that Beanstar Piece!"


	35. Seasonal Style

**I really am on a writing roll. I finished three and a half chapters yesterday (02/03/2013), something I hardly do on a normal day due to time restrictions and complications, and now I finished the chapter I had half-finished today. I might finish this story before the end of March! :D**

* * *

Mario and Luigi - A Superstar Story

Chapter 35: Seasonal Style

In the area to the north, the three natives were adjusting small parts of a giant hermit crab's green Christmas Tree-like shell, placing all kinds of decorations on it, even candy canes. One of them placed the Beanstar Piece on the top.

"How's that feel, Hermie?" they asked. "Like the look of it?"

"Oh! I get a good feel from that! Yethh, I do." Hermie chuckled as Mario and Luigi approached him. "Huhn? Who are you? Have you come to help me decorate, too?"

Hermie looked at Mario a bit closer.

"Why! Red clothes… And a muthtache, even… That meanthh…" Hermie gasped. "C-Could you be…"

Mario and Luigi looked at Hermie in slight suspense.

"THANTA CLAUTH!?" Mario and Luigi fell to the ground. Eventually, Mario and Luigi had the strength to get up again from being duped so badly. Mario shook his head in denial.

"Nope."

"Hermie! What is it?!" a native asked, jumping off Hermie's shell and looking at the Bros. "Oh, wow… On closer inspection, I see you have red clothes and a shiny mustache… Could you be…"

Mario jumped to make sure she was actually right.

"Wow! That jump! Pow! Then it's true! It's true! You're Mario of the Mushroom Kingdom! Stupendular!" the native gasped, turning to the two on Hermie's shell still decorating. "Mario of the Mushroom Kingdom is here! Party on! This is no time to be decorating!"

Split-seconds were all the trio needed before they had surrounded Mario from everywhere but west, as that was where Luigi was. Mario was sprinting in circles frantically as he was fangirled.

"WHOOOAAAA! OUTSTANDING! It's true! It's true! Can I touch your mustache?! Can I have your gloves?! That jump! It's gloriful! Grandular! I cannot WAIT to brag to everyone I know! This RULES! I absolutely MUST take a picture! Where's my camera?! Can I have a bit of your hair?!"

Luigi looked at the scene. He knew he had to get Mario out of there. He grabbed Mario and tried pulling him out. Hermie, who was watching all this, wasn't very pleased.

"Ahh… Oh… My decorationthh…" Hermie mumbled, crestfallen.

"Huh? Oh… You must be… The president of the Mario Fan Club?" one of the natives asked, the others stopping the harassing of Mario, yet he still sprinted in circles on the spot frantically, unaware of the attack ending.

Luigi looked at them.

"No! Wait just a second… Green clothes… Mustache…" one of them analysed.

"Hey… Any chance that you're… The random brother who always gets left behind?" another asked, walking around to Luigi's west side. The other two stood by Luigi's north and south sides to get a good look. Mario had stopped sprinting now, and realized what was about to happen. He waited.

"Luigi?"

Luigi jumped and nodded, then getting fangirled by the trio, instead.

"Wow! Are we lucky or what?! How old are you? What's your sign? And your hat size? What's your favourite colour? How do you keep that fine 'stache? Favourite snack? Where do you get your clothes? When's your birthday? OK, your waist? Any hobbies?"

"ARRGGHPTHH!" Hermie outraged. The natives ran behind Mario and Luigi, and they all looked at Hermie. "Ppthh! The decorating thtopped, and it ith all becauthe of you!"

"Sheesh, talk about an attention seeker." Mario muttered.

"If you want to cauthe trouble… then you're thtupid!"

Mario and Luigi got ready for battle. Luigi started things off by zapping Hermie's left claw. This seemed very effective. Mario burned Hermie directly with a fireball, then pounded Hermie's right claw when it tried to snap at him.

"Athpthpth! How fruthtrating! It ith time to thpeed things up!" Hermie decided, suddenly moving faster. He reached out his right claw at Mario again, and clawed him across the face. Hermie reached his left claw at Luigi, but he kicked it away frantically.

"He suddenly started moving faster!" Mario noticed. "We better stay on edge. That kind of power is dangerous. We better watch out."

Luigi charged up a ball of electricity behind Mario, bounced off his head, and zapped the ground, hurting Hermie and his claws through Thunder Bros.

"His speed may be rising, but his defences are dropping now!" Mario noted. Hermie faked out Luigi by going for Mario initially, then switching over to his other claw and clawing him, but then was counterattacked by Mario when he tried going for him.

"Time to try my newly created move, Fire Bros!" Mario chanted. "You know what to do, right, Luigi?"

Luigi nodded. They went over this during lunch very carefully. Mario charged up some fireballs, then hurled one in an arc at Luigi who had his hammer ready. He batted it at Hermie, and he was burned. This was repeated three times before Mario ran out of fireballs.

Hermie charged at Mario, and shot out his right claw at him, only to fake him out and retract it before contact, sending out his left claw at Luigi, yet he managed to notice this and kick away the ambush.

Hermie sped up, and burped two pink bubbles at Luigi. He smashed one to…whatever juices those were that dropped in the sand, but the other splashed him in the face. Mario winced. Mario burned Hermie's left claw, Luigi zapped it, and it was put out of commission, bandages wrapped around it now. Hermie clawed Mario with his right claw as muffled laughter came out at the suddenness of the bandages appearance. Another Thunder Bros lowered Hermie's defences further, yet he fought on with his right claw.

Mario jumped over one claw attack, then counterattacked the other. Hermie sped up some more. Mario stomped Hermie's right claw, and jumped over a claw attack. Luigi zapped Hermie's right claw, and once again, bandages appeared, wrapped around that claw, too.

"It's almost as if your electricity is super-effective against Hermie's claws." Mario noticed. "You always seem to get those bandages to appear, putting the claws out of commission."

Mario and Luigi performed Vacuum Bros on Hermie while he was generally exposed to attacks, and snagged a Lucky Ribbon.

"Wow! We actually snagged something!" Luigi gasped as Hermie groaned in disappointment, shooting out three bubbles. Mario hammered one, but both Bros were blasted by one afterwards.

Luigi smashed a curled up Mario into Hermie, performing Knockback Bros. Mario signalled for Fire Bros, and started charging up some fireballs. He then hurled each of the four he had charged up in an arc at Luigi, and he smashed them down to Hermie. After that, Hermie hid in his shell.

"What's he doing in there?" Mario wondered.

"Probably decorating." Luigi shrugged. "We should leave him be for a while."

"I think he's healing. You know, his bandaged claws and all? We should do him some housewarming, if you catch my drift." Mario winked. Luigi winked back, and carefully zapped Hermie's shell. Mario burned it. Fire caught on to the whole shell, but it stopped once Hermie popped out, his claws back in action. "He WAS healing!"

"What are you doing to my pretty decorathion?!" Hermie questioned. "No more, thtupids!"

Mario was faked out, yet Hermie switched to his other claw and snapped Luigi…twice. Mario was snapped, then pounded away the right claw, ending Hermie's onslaught of claw attacks. Knockback Bros put Hermie's lefty back out of commission, and Chopper Bros assisted with putting the righty out of commission, too. Hermie then hid in his shell to heal.

"If he can heal, so can we!" Luigi chanted, sharing a Nut with Mario, then watching his brother burn the shell again.

"What are you doing to my pretty decorathion?!" Hermie questioned. "No more, thtupids!"

He clawed Luigi, but was stomped by Mario, who ended the onslaught early.

"Wait, bro, if he was healing in there, do you think he fixed his defense problem?" Luigi asked. Mario nodded. "Then unfortunately, another Thunder Bros is in order."

Luigi once again performed the charge, bounce and bomb combo, and Hermie's defences were once again lowered, yet he did get back at him by snapping the plumber. Mario got back at him for that by stomping Hermie's claw, then they did Swing Bros on him, knocking a candy cane off his "decorathion". Mario snagged it, and gnawed on it, finishing it in record time.

Mario stomped Hermie's claw attack, and Hermie retreated before he was counterattacked further. He sped up, then came back to snap Luigi…twice. Mario stopped this through counterattacking, and that even put Hermie's right claw out of commission.

Luigi walked up to Hermie, and smashed his mug quite hard. He screwed up his face, and exploded in defeat, Luigi rolling back to Mario's side.

"Well, that works." Mario said.

_Mario levelled up to Level 25! Mario got an extra +3DEF!_

_Luigi levelled up to Level 25! Luigi got an extra +3POW!_

"Appthh! Hackthh!" Hermie groaned, lying in a pile. One of the natives tended to him.

"Please excuse Hermie… He's a little… kooky." They said, the others covering Hermie's face with their bodies, facing the Bros.

"Gee, I'm sorry, fellas…" one started. "I guess we were in the wrong…"

"Anyhoo, I'm sure you two must have had some reason for coming here…"

"Yeah, we sorta came here looking for that thing on the top of Hermie's shell." Mario pointed out.

"Huh? The bean-thing on the shell?"

"Well, whoop-de-doo. What's so important about that thing?"

"We need it to save a certain princess and stop a certain dragon-witch's plan of world conquest…" Luigi trailed.

"Wow! Did you hear that, Hermie?" the two natives blocking Hermie parted to let him speak clearly.

"Uhhnnn… Ith that tho? Then I thuppothe I have no choithe…" Hermie realized, and nudged his shell forward, causing the Beanstar Piece to drop off and land before the Bros. They snapped their fingers, jumped, spun and posed.

"BEANSTAR!" they both chanted.

_You got a Beanstar Piece! Only 3 more to go!_

"And after decorating thingth tho well, too…" Hermie moaned as the Bros made their leave south.

"But we tried so hard…"

"What? You're leaving already?" a native asked. Mario and Luigi nodded. "I don't see why you can't stay and relax, personally."

"Superstars are busy people, I'm sure." A native stated, walking to the west part of the small island they were on, and pointing to the west. "If you're going back, this way should be a shortcut."

Mario and Luigi looked at Hermie, it looked as if he had something to say.

"Don't you have anything to replathe the bean-thing with?" Hermie asked. Mario and Luigi shook their heads. "If you happen to find thomething in your travelth, I really hope you bring it back here."

"Looks like we have a reason to come back here eventually." Luigi realized as they headed west, Luigi sliding off some white squares in the sand and tripping over two blue and white circles that followed.

"Is that some new type of crab?" Mario asked, pointing at whatever Luigi tripped over.

"No idea." Luigi dusted off the sand. "And is it me, or do I feel very watched?"

"It's just you. I don't notice anything that could unsettle you to the point of that thought, since there's no one here but us, and those Beans off in the distance that I can't even see any more." Mario stated, pulling Luigi along to the west.

There was a Boo Statue. They pushed it, and stones made a bridge again. "I really do wonder how that works."

Mario and Luigi crossed it, and headed north to a green pipe, entering the pipe junction again, and heading from Pipe 8 to Pipe 3.

**Beanbean Castle Town**

They headed back to Toadsworth in the castle.

"I beg of you! You must find the Beanstar Pieces so we can save dear Princess Peach!" Toadsworth begged, pacing back and forth.

"Uh, we came here for some guidance." Mario stated. "Any ideas on which one to go for next?"

"Oho! Seeking wisdom, I see! Quite commendable, Master Mario!" Toadsworth glanced at the map. "I recommend you head forth towards the southernmost Beanstar Piece. Surely that will yield great results!"

Mario nodded in thanks, and dragged Luigi out the castle, their next target realized, and now their new destination.


	36. Splart Style

**For the record, half of this chapter is side-quest. Maybe most of it. So there's a heads-up somewhere. You'll probably notice, so no need to specify.**

* * *

Mario and Luigi - A Superstar Story

Chapter 36: Splart Style

**South Beanbean**

Passing Beanbean Airport by going east, Mario and Luigi smashed a rock randomly, then dug around a suspicious area to find a Bean Fruit… whatever that was. Mario just stuffed it in the suitcase and they headed back north, then east, shifting a Boo Statue and causing some bridge to appear. Mario and Luigi nabbed a Hoo Bean and some coins, then headed south. They dropped down some ledges, where a sign was.

_Splart Assistant Inquire Within_

_…Ask for Harhall_

Mario and Luigi just climbed up the ledges to the east… to find a Beanstar Piece in a bird cage, hanging on a tree. They gasped.

"YAAARF!" Mario and Luigi jumped at what they just saw. The very same Bean left, glaring at the area east.

"Im-Impossible! No WAY am I working with explosive colours like those!" the Bean howled.

"Burrrr-urrrrp! Water…" an old Bean moaned, walking by, too. "Drank…too much water…"

Mario and Luigi hesitated.

"For the Beanstar Piece?" Mario asked, a bit worried.

"For the Beanstar Piece." Luigi nodded veeeery slowly as they both walked across the yellow bridge made of designer clothes. There, upon some footprint markings, stood a Bean with a very vertical head. They were furious.

"Honestly! What is one to do with such riffraff?!" Harhall asked themselves. Mario jumped. Harhall looked, and calmed down. "Oh! Welcome! WELCOME!"

Harhall struck a pose.

"I am called Harhall, genius designer. And I am also called Bleetch. Yes! We are one and the same! Did you know?" They asked. Mario and Luigi looked at each other, lost for words. They pounded the ground, shaking it. "Did you know?!"

They both nodded hastily.

"Yes, yes, whatever. Am I correct in assuming you're interested in the Splart Assistant opening?" Harhall asked. "Fine, fine. If you do a _decent_ enough job, I'll pay you. Your pay will be… some coins."

Mario and Luigi fell to the floor.

"What? Do you have some sort of complaint? Hm? Hm? HM?" Harhall questioned.

They haggled for the certain object in the cage they saw to be their one and most likely only payment.

"Fair enough. Your pay will be…" Harhall gestured to the west. "A bean-like thing that cascaded down from the heavens! Tah-dah!"

Mario and Luigi looked interested now they talked to each other incoherently.

"What? Do you have ANOTHER sort of complaint? Hm? Hm? HM?" Harhall questioned. The Bros shook their heads.

"That's better. Now then…" Harhall got back to the job. She stomped the ground, and three helicopter bob-ombs (one blue, one yellow and one red) came flying out of three pipes, each one further away from the last. "You can help me with my Splart right away! But you must be snappy! Just do it and get it done!"

The helicopter bob-ombs flew back in the pipes.

"Now, don't mind me! I'll just give you a little advice while you work. Trust me, you need it. First, go have yourself a drink so you can become a proper Splart water pump! Once you're able to pump out water like a human fire hydrant… step on these little foot marks!" Harhall side-stepped off the foot marks and pointed at them. "Try it!"

Luigi looked at Mario pleadingly.

"Is this even good for my health?" Mario questioned as he filled up on water from the little pipe squirting out water, and stuttered over to the foot marks. A blue bob-omb flew out.

"Fine! FINE! I'll explain the method to my genius! Though the genius of Splart defies explanation… First, you must dye the fabric! Hammer your swollen friend to shoot water at the Designbomb! Try it, already! Try it!" Harhall urged. Luigi hammered Mario with great haste, and a drop of water shot out of Mario and blasted the blue Designbomb into the fabric, turning it blue.

"The colour of the Designbomb you hit… colours the fabric!" Harhall explained. "Oh. By the way… If you hit two Designbombs at the same time… then the fabric colour becomes a mixture of those two colours! Don't forget! It's vital to Splart!"

"Oh! And one more teensy thing! If you're dyeing fabric and you think Barf! That's all wrong! …Just talk to Bleetch! He'll make the fabric nice and shiny white for you! Once you're done dyeing, then you choose your design!" Harhall waited for a checkered Designbomb come out. "So you get to shoot water at the artsy bombs again! Isn't is just so fun you could dye?!"

Harhall waited. Luigi took this as a sign telling him to hit Mario again. He smashed him, and Mario shot out another drop of water at the Designbomb, knocking it into the fabric and turning it into a blue and white checkered design.

"The design of the Designbomb you shoot… alters the design on your duds! The Designbomb patterns are… the tropical design… the polka-dot design… and the checkered design!" Harhall named as the respective Designbombs came out the same three pipes as the coloured ones did.

"By the way, if you hit two or more Designbombs… the pattern always ends up being a star! Remember that!" Harhall ordered. "Once you're done with the design, I'll decide if it perfectly matches the artistic vision of Splart! So, yeah. Anyway, that's the method to my genius…"

"And now I'll need you to finish four outfits for me, OK, boys? Hop to it!" Harhall urged. "That's all I have to tell you! So get started on your first assignment with all speed! As for design, anything will do! Just give me a red colour!"

Luigi hammered to get red, let Mario refill, then went with the polka-dots.

"Yes! That's it! That will do fine! Next! On to the next one! Let's see… The next design is… I want something in yellow! Oh! And in a checkered pattern!" Harhall ordered.

Luigi hammered to get yellow, was off-timing for the checkered, and didn't hit anything, so Mario had to refill. Luigi hammered to get checkered.

"Yes! That's it! That will do fine! Next! On to the next one! Let's see… the next design is…" Harhall mused, rubbing her chin. "Give me some purple! Purple with a polka-dot flare!"

Luigi hammered, and nearly only got blue. Red was snagged too, and they got purple. Luigi barely missed polka-dot, and hit tropical stripes.

"No! No! No! This is all wrong! You must start over from scratch!" Harhall barked. "Give me some purple! Purple with a polka-dot flare!"

Luigi got red and blue (purple), and actually managed to get the polka-dots.

"Yes! Wonderful! Amazing! That's it! That will do just FINE! Next! On to the next one!" Harhall cheered. "Let's see… the next design is… I'm depressed! I crave brown! But with a star! Remember, to make a star pattern, just hit two or more Designbombs at once!"

Luigi snagged all three coloured Designbombs on the first try, getting brown. Luigi then got tropical stripes.

"NO! NO! NO! Horrible! Ugly! _Out of style!_ This is ALL wrong! You must start over… FROM SCRATCH!" Harhall was disgusted. "Those are like the clothes you'd wear as an old man. I'm depressed! I crave brown! But with a star!"

Luigi got purple, restarted, and got blue with a star.

"Fabulous! But no! I asked for BROWN! I'm depressed!" Harhall stated.

Luigi got green, with a star.

"I actually like this, too…" Luigi whimpered as Harhall tore it to shreds.

"BROWN!"

Luigi got yellow, restarted, then swiped all six Designbombs, along with a Bean floating with some headgear that was only there for a split-second, but was still caught. Luigi getting brown with a Fawful face on the front. It was so entrancing it looked like it could steal souls... almost literally. Mario and Luigi nearly jumped when that face popped out of nowhere. They looked at Harhall for a response.

"AMAZING! I LOVE IT!" Harhall shrieked. "It screams entrancement! I just know this will steal the hearts of my adoring public! I have chortles, they would scream!"

"Wow." Mario had no other words.

"Splendid! We're all done here! This means must pay you with a bean-like thing, as promised! Go next door and get your pay!" Harhall ordered, leaving west. Mario and Luigi followed, after Mario let out the rest of the water he had in him.

There, by the tree and design bodies, was Harhall. Above, was the Beanstar Piece in a cage.

"See! Here is the bean-like thing I promised you! Take it with you!" Harhall unlocked the cage's flooring, and let the piece fall out before the Bros.

They snapped their fingers, jumped, spun, and made a pose as they got the piece.

"BEANSTAR!"

_You got a Beanstar Piece! Only 2 more to go!_

"Ah, nice work! You guys are incredible! If I need help again, I'll be coming to you!" Harhall promised. "Be ready for that!"

Mario and Luigi nodded as they headed out.

. . . . . . .

Mario and Luigi just passed the Boo Statue and turned west.

"Wait! Hold it! Stop!" a voice called behind them. It was Harhall. "I need your help again! You said you'd be ready for this, too!"

"Yeah, you kinda told us that five minutes ago…" Mario trailed as Harhall brought them back to the studio. "So, what now?"

"So, here's the scoop. As soon as I started selling my Splart clothing designs…" Harhall shared. "I immediately sold out and started getting orders for more!"

"You sold four pieces of clothing in five minutes. I'm not sure what to think of that…" Luigi wondered.

"It was probably that last one that sold like wildfire, I guess. Maybe it really was a hot design." Mario shrugged.

"Oh, I mass-produced them a while ago. But apparently, twenty of each was not enough for my raging people. If you guys have time, I'd like you to make more clothes for me while the four designs are once again mass-produced to stall! If you make me a lot of clothes, I'll make it worth your while!"

"Great. Now I feel a need to do this now." Mario said.

"But this time, I want you guys to make your own designs! The clothes you design will be recorded right here! Enough room for 28 different designs!" Harhall showed them a piece of paper with 28 squares, one for each clothing design.

"Once you fill all these design spaces, I'll give you something incredible!" Harhall stated. "Good luck!"

Harhall walked and stopped beside a sign. Mario started talking tactics.

"So, our job is to come up with 28 unique designs, using the blue, red, yellow, checkered, tropical striped and polka-dotted Designbombs. Already, I can firmly state there are seven colours for us to work with, those being Red, Blue, Yellow, Orange, Green, Purple and Brown. Upon those seven colours, we have four different designs to splat them with, those being Polka-Dot, Tropical Stripes, Checkered and Star. By doing some simple equation, say, four times seven, I can deduce there are exactly 28 designs available for us to create, four for each colour, seven for each design. Just enough for us to fill this piece of paper with. While it may be tough containing all this liquid, I'll be fine." Mario opened his mouth and filled up on water. He spoke with his mouth fill on the foot marks. "Hammer away, bro! Start with Brown!"

Luigi sweat-dropped. Harhall hardly seemed fazed.

Luigi began by timing it to get all three bombs, then nabbing all three again, ending with a Brown Star design.

"Not bad! Not bad at all! Brown Star! That sounds like an old star, who had nearly ran out of time in the starry skies! Maybe a kind of sub-stellar object or something along those lines! I like it!" Harhall stated as she marked it on the design sheet. "This is your salary!"

Harhall gave the Bros a Woo Bean.

Luigi snagged all three coloured Designbombs, let Mario refill, then got polka-dots.

"Stylish! _Totally in style!_ Brown Dots… yes, that sounds like a music group. That'll be all the rage with those kids. _Astounding!_ I like it!"

Harhall gave the Bros a Woo Bean.

Luigi hit blue, red and yellow, then got checkered.

"Not bad! Checkered Brown… like a chess board! The boys at Woohoo Hooniversity will be pleased when I show 'em these bad boys! I like it!"

Harhall gave the Bros a Woo Bean as Mario refilled.

Luigi got all the colours, then hit only tropical stripes.

"Not bad! Not bad at all! The Brown Stripes… that's definitely a rock band out there. Those young'uns will definitely help sales rocket with these! I like it!"

Harhall gave the Bros a Woo Bean as Mario refilled after spewing out excess.

"So, bro. Brown has been done. What's next?" Luigi asked, looking at the design sheet.

"Purple?" Mario suggested, mouth frothing with water as he stepped on the foot marks.

Luigi smashed the water out of Mario, nipping red and definitely snagging blue. He blasted stripes at the back, and Harhall looked pleased.

"Purple Stripes! Not bad! I've got an itching that's yet another music group, with how lazy those teens are with their names. I like it!"

Luigi was given a Woo Bean, like he would be for each and every design.

Luigi got Purple Star for this next one.

"IT'S A ZTAR BACKWARDS!" Luigi cried out in fear. "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

Mario grabbed Luigi before he got too far.

"The Ztar, hm? Not bad… I like that."

Luigi got Checkered Purple.

"Yes, this could be Purple Squares, named after that famed digital studio across the seas. I know people will love that."

Luigi got Purple Dots.

"Yes, Purple Dots. _Fabulous!_ The Shroob! Yes, I love it! I must find a way to ship these into space. I know of a planet whose inhabitants would love these!"

"Why do I feel that I know something that looks like that?" Mario asked. "In fact, I'm not going to wonder about that. On to Orange!"

Luigi got Orange Star.

"Absolutely stunning! I must send these over to Wars World! Those COs in that one continent will definitely invest in these for their troops!"

Luigi got Orange Stripes.

"So wild! Such power and freedom! This shall be… the tiger!"

Mario burst into laughter, letting out the water.

Luigi got Checkered Orange.

"Not bad! In fact, I love it! I just KNOW I'll be seeing this at a lot of races when I publish this… flag designers, watch out! Harhall's in town!"

Luigi got Orange Dots.

"Orange Dots… Ah, I have a certain gallery in mind where they'd adore this particular design! Adore it! I must send them a postcard of this fabulous design!

"About time we did my colour!" Luigi cheered.

Luigi got Green Dots.

"Beautiful! I now have a design I can flash to the makers of a certain app! I can feel high sales, on account of these very makers!"

Luigi got Green Star.

"I believe it will be easy to coax those slightly off-the-chain fellows at the Green Star to promote my fabulous design! I am a very persuasive designer, I'll have you know!"

"Uh…" Luigi didn't

"Oh! _Idea!_ Green Star, based off of the green stars I've heard you can collect to power things in the starry skies! Maybe I can pawn these off on those Lumas in the Green Star Galaxies..."

"Should you even know that right now…or even at all?" Mario asked, water dropping out of his mouth.

Luigi got Green Stripes.

"Yes, those lovely lads at Green Stripes will be glad to change this to their logo! Gladly, we adore this totally bone-shaking mind-blowing design, they will say! And then, I take my first step into the amazing world of FAME! FORTUNE! GLORY!"

"Uh… I think he's getting ahead of himself…" Mario trailed… a bit shaken by the outburst.

Luigi got Checkered Green.

"Checkered Green. Yes, I declare this the new colour for bouncy blocks! Just you wait, one day, you'll see my glorious design on some blocks that'll give you that extra leap away from those Bullet Bills!"

"Someone pinch me if that ever happens." Mario said.

"Time for Yellow!" Mario declared.

Luigi got Yellow Dots.

"Those new-born Beans at Yellow Dot will be crying for joy when they get to wear those baby-sized designs I shall promote and advertise!"

Luigi got Yellow Stripes.

"You'll definitely being seeing this in the next episode of that show. Next Step: The Television!"

Luigi got Checkered Yellow.

"That cab company will see this, and gawk at this! I call it now, they'll come begging for exclusive copies of my amazing designing skills! I love it!"

Luigi got Yellow Star.

"Now, this sure is familiar." Mario said sarcastically.

"Yeah, I definitely know this one, but I just can't put my finger on what exactly it is…" Luigi added sarcastically.

"Fabulous! Screaming with style! I may just be able to convince those big-shots in Star Haven to buy these! Amazing!"

"Time for Blue!" Mario said. "We're nearly done…"

Luigi got Checkered Blue.

"Hm… this could be an alternative flag design. Now those rival flag designers don't stand a chance!"

Luigi got Blue Star.

"Yes, these can be a complementary gift to guests, courtesy of the people at Blue Star Hotel, supplied by none other than me, and I could be paid!"

Luigi got Blue Dots.

"Ah, another gallery I can trust to buy my Blue Dots design for their exhibits and such. I might just be able to get sold out, if I play my cards right."

Luigi got Blue Stripes.

"The next time someone sings that song at a concert, I'll be there with a stand chock-full of this design! They'll sell like a wildfire spreads!"

"Yahoo! It's-a red!" Mario cheered as he went to refill. "Now we're talking!"

Luigi got Red Stripes.

"Yes, this could be just the thing for my haunted house set! People may think this is blood!"

Luigi got Checkered Red.

"Even the ants will gawk at this new fabulous design, the picnickers actually looking like the mat they sit on! Fabulous! I may just have to make bite-size designs just for those ants! I can imagine they'll pay hefty prices for size adjustment!"

Luigi got Red Star.

"I recall hearing about these. There are some galaxies with these stars out there. I heard they look _fabulous!_ I know star-gazers will fall for these!"

"I seriously question how a designer knows about this mumbo-jumbo I feel they shouldn't know about yet…" Mario muttered. "I mean, it just feels TOO early for this…"

Luigi got Red Dots.

"Ah, how often a child tries to fool their parents with markers, pretending they have chicken pox! Now they can say they have fashion pox!"

Harhall looked twice after marking Red Dots in the sheet. He gasped.

"Oh, fabulous! You've filled every single space! Congratulations! With all of these clothes, I can open my own shop! Thank you! Thank you so much! Please take this!" Harhall cheered.

Luigi received an extra pair of Harhall's pants that only really fit Mario.

"I'm going to be SO busy getting ready to open my store. I don't think I'll be back here for a while. So, take care!" Harhall waved goodbye, and walked off, grinning at the design sheet in hand.

"Looks like we can leave, now, then." Mario realized. "Let's go see what Toadsworth has to say."

Needless to say, Toadsworth advised them to head for the Beanstar Piece in the northwest, so that was their new destination.

* * *

**Seasonal Style, Splart Style, I think we may just have a pattern for chapters where the Bros get Beanstar Pieces.**

**You know, I really did put my heart and soul coming up with each and every one of those design lines. All 28 of them. In fact, they all reference SOMETHING out there. You might want to search up each and every one of them. There is actually a music group called Brown Stripes, for example. You never know! ^^**


	37. Sign Style

Mario and Luigi - A Superstar Story

Chapter 37: Sign Style

**North Beanbean**

Mario and Luigi lit up an electric orb. They gained access to a cave. There were two blocks. They hit them at the same time. A new bridge appeared. The Bros repeated this, except it was harder to do this time. New bridge. They did this a third time, and they found a mole.

"Congratulations! Excellent job, making it all the way here! Let me commemorate the moment with this! Take it, please!" the mole shoved some Wool Trousers into Mario's hands.

"Sheesh, pushy…" Mario grumbled incoherently.

"What's that? You want even more commemoration?" the mole asked, not hearing what Mario said. "Well! Aren't you the greedy one! No more for you!"

. . .

Mario took out his boredom on a chubby Koopa blocking the way, using Luigi like a ram to batter the guy over.

"AHH! How did THAT happen? You guys are no slouches! The fat Koopa stumbled to his feet and made a break for it.

Two Beans were looking at a sign. One of them was smaller and a bit weedy, while the other was wearing an eggshell and put the third Beanstar Piece on a sign.

"Hey, out-" Mario was cut off.

"Hey! What's up with you two?!" the weedy Bean interrupted. "You can't, no, you DON'T just waltz up here and start talking to my master! You weasels! Look at you! There's no doubt in my mind that you've come looking for money! Well, I'll have you know that my master is very busy! He doesn't have time to waste on the likes of you! Be off! OFF, I say!"

"You know, that's part of the Beanstar. It broke into four pieces." Mario explained. "We sorta need to haggle your Master for the Beanstar Piece."

"Huh? THE Beanstar? Busted up into five-"

"Four." Luigi corrected.

"Busted up into four pieces?" the Master turned around as the Bean repeated this. He scampered back over to him and begged. "…O M-Master! Master! You mustn't listen! You can't listen! All of this talk is just meant to swindle you out of your money again! It's all lies! LIES! LIES, I say! LIIIIIIEEEESSSS!"

The Master hid himself in his clothing, as an egg that fit perfectly. A cursor appeared out of the blue, making the locking-on sounds, and it locked on to the Bean. The Master smashed into the Bean in his egg, possibly knocking the guy out.

Silence, you twit!" the Master ordered as Mario and Luigi saw the guy's face. He bowed in front of the Bros, and had his hands on his hips. "And with that, please excuse me. What's that? There's something on my face?"

"You look a lot like that Bubbles guy!" Mario finally found the words to say. "From Chucklehuck Woods!"

"I remember that guy…

. . .

_In the distance, they could see a barrel and an old man. They could faintly hear the old man tell jokes as they approached._

_"What do idiots drink? the old man asked. "So-duhhhh!"_

_The barrel made some movements…as if it was laughing or something._

_"What do sodas call their dads?" the old man asked again. "Pop!"_

_The barrel made similar movements to earlier._

_"A hippie's favourite soda?" the old man once again asked. "Granola Cola!"_

_For the third time, the barrel made weird movements. At this point, Mario and Luigi had reached the man._

_"My name is…Bubbles."_

_"Did you build Chateau de Chucklehuck?" Luigi asked._

_"Yes, I built Chateau de Chuckle, and I founded Chuckola Cola, Inc. And…I am the ultimate comedian, with the laughing and the chortling and the har har HAR!"_

_"So that's the Chuckola Reserve?" Mario asked._

_"Yes, monsieurs. Indeed… What you see before you is the most legendary of sodas… The Chuckola Reserve… And, I am pleased to tell you, this Chuckola Reserve…is yours to enjoy!"_

_The Bros stayed silent._

_"Har hee HAR! I have worked on Chuckola Reserve for 1000 years… Telling it joke after joke, so it would mature, and then mature some more, and then yet more… Until at last the greatest soda of all would be completed with the fizz and the tastiness. Because it is a soda of such high calibre and repute, rude guests meet a fate such as this… Un! Deux! Trois!"_

_Rookie and Popple were lowered on a rope…they seemed to be stuck in barrels, with only their heads sticking out. Mario and Luigi gaped at the sudden sight of it._

_"Th-That's no ordinary soda, see?" Popple yelled, making the barrel he was stuck in shake. "We can't stand up to such a beverage!"_

. . .

_"The great Chuckola Reserve is a thing to savor, with the flavor and tang and yum in the belly!" Bubbles said._

_Suddenly, the barrel and drink changed shape, and the drink was now in a larger, yet slightly different version of Bubbles. The barrel was now a shield, and it suddenly formed a sword out of itself. It spun, and knocked Rookie and Popple out of sight, and as it did that, Bubbles did a slow-motion leap into the air. Luigi had nothing to say about the situation…it was just too weird._

_"Looks like that drink…" Mario paused, putting on some shades. "…has gone sour!_

_ "Ahhh… It is wonderful… So wonderful…" Bubbles said softly. "The great soda shines…"_

_"However!" Bubbles dropped out of his slow-motion jump. "That was not the only hidden soda power that my jokes have bred over these 1000 years! Now I insist you fully experience the texture, taste and aroma of Chuckola Reserve Bon appetite!"_

. . .

_"NOOOOOOO!" Bubbles cried. "B-But the jokes! The puns! The humor I've saved up over the last 1000 years!"_

_Bubbles bounced on the ground, creating cracks in the floor. Mario and Luigi made a mad dash for the barrel of soda, but Bubbles broke the floor, creating a square hole by where he just landed. Mario, Luigi and the soda fell into the newly created hole._

_"Au revoir!" Bubbles yelled._

. . .

"Eh? You say I look like Bubbles, the legendary soda maker?" the Master asked. "Heh heh heh. That's because… I'm… Bubbles'… younger brother!"

"…OK?" Mario had no idea what to say now that everything made sense.

"My name is Boddle… younger brother of the legendary soda maker. As you can see, I'm rich enough to own my own theater. I also happen to be president of the Yoshi Fan Club."

"This theater was designed by a Yoshi-loving chap specifically for the enjoyment of the Yoshis." The Bean added, groaning a bit from getting knocked out like that.

So, uh…" Boddle returned to the subject at hand. "What did you want to talk about?"

"That Beanstar Piece." Mario started.

"We need it."

"Yes, we most definitely need it."

"We cannot not have it."

"Your no would mean the end of the Beanbean Kingdom, and the life-ruining of a certain princess in capture."

"I see… You just have to have the decoration on this sign…" Boddle realized. He walked back and forth, thinking. "…Yes, of course. Fine, fine. I suppose I could decorate the sign with something else and give that sparkly thing to you…"

"Yahoo!" Mario cheered.

"Oh yeah!" Luigi grinned.

"No! No! You mustn't! Master, you mustn't!" the Bean urged, getting homing-egged again.

"However… only on one condition…" Boddle said. "This sign is my theater's face. You must find something else that can be used to decorate my grand sign, understood?"

Mario and Luigi thought for possible candidates to replace the Beanstar Piece with.

"Why, do you mean… Neon Eggs?" the Bean asked.

"Yes! I shall trade you this for the seven brilliant colours of the Neon Eggs!" Boddle decided.

"Im-Impossible, Master! Washed-up middle-aged men such as these could never get the Neon Eggs!"

Boddle homing-egged the Bean again.

"Will the two of you agree to this?" Boddle asked. "When Yoshis eat a particular kind of food, they lay Neon Eggs, or so they say. Inside that movie theater are seven hungry Yoshis…"

"So, find that particular food and give it to the Yoshis inside. Once you get a Neon Egg, it means the Yoshi's stomach is filled. It also means… EVERYONE'S HAPPY!" Boddle posed as he chanted that. "…Right?"

"You don't feed them?" Luigi gasped.

"Silence! In-Incredible, Master! Thinking not only of yourself… but of all the Yoshis, too!" the Bean stated. He turned to the Bros sharply. "You two! Don't just stand there staring! Thank my master! And once you're done thanking him, hurry up and get those Neon Eggs!"

"Now that you mention it, there is someone in this theater who's well versed on neon Eggs. You should talk to that individual about what food makes Yoshis lay Neon Eggs and where to find it."

Mario and Luigi nodded, then headed into the theater. They saw four posters.

"Oh, look, Kirby got his own movie, apparently." Luigi pointed at the first poster with a picture of Kirby on a Warp Star, smiling as usual. "Somehow."

"Hey, I think I found someone who looks knowledgeable." Mario called from the show room. "Quick, come over."

Luigi went into the show room, walked up the middle, and approached the Bean sitting on the high stage.

"…Indeed, I am the architect who designed this very theater. I am called Fava. And, also indeed, I am the older brother of the castle town's greatest intellectual."

"Neon Eggs. We know you know about them, and we wish to know, you know?" Mario stated.

"…What? What-what? What-what-what-what-WHAT? Ne-Neon Eggs, you say?"

"Did I stutter, fiend?" Mario asked.

"…How did you know that I'm a Neon Egg fiend?" Fava asked.

"Certain… people." Mario answered randomly.

"That's right! Some know me as… an architect and some know me as an intellectual's older brother… but in reality… I'm just an old man who loves Neon Eggs! …Perhaps!"

"So, how do we get Neon Eggs? You know, what food makes Yoshis spawn them?" Mario asked.

"What?! You want to know what food makes Yoshis lay Neon Eggs?" Fava asked. "Well, that'd be Bean Fruits! …Perhaps! Bean Fruits are native to Beanbean Kingdom. They grow underground… perhaps!"

Fava stepped the stage floor after he stood up, a slideshow going on showing the related images of Bean Fruits behind him.

"First, dig the Bean Fruit out of the ground… then feed the Bean Fruit you dug up to a Yoshi… then you will get a Neon Egg! …Perhaps! But, you know, there's nothing wrong with an old man being a Neon Egg fiend. I've never even found a single Neon Egg in all my life."

"Wow." Mario didn't see that coming at all.

"…Very well." Fava stated. "However… the knowledge I have gained after much collecting and searching is not exact… but in my head, I have a map that shows kind of the general area where Bean Fruits may be. Perhaps!"

"Show us! We're gonna feed those Yoshis them!" Luigi declared. "They're starving!"

"WHAAAT? What-WHAAAT? You're going to find them? And feed them to the Yoshis? Hmmmmmm… OK! I'll tell you! Indeed, I will now tell you!"

"Tell us what, again?" Mario asked.

"I'll show you a map that points out the general location of some Bean Fruits!" Fava yelled. "I'll put marks on your map! …Perhaps!"

Fava marked the Bros' map with six locations of Bean Fruits.

"Go to the areas I marked on your map and look for suspicious spots surrounded by grass or rocks… if you find such spots, there's no mistaking that a Bean Fruit lies in the dirt in that spot! By the way, to dig up a Bean Fruit, just dig underground once and pop back up… perhaps! If you're lucky!"

Mario and Luigi headed out of the theater, and started looking for Bean Fruits using the map.

. . .

**Southwest Beanbean**

They came out of Pipe 4, climbed up a few ledges, spin-jumped, and found a suspicious spot. They dug, and Luigi found a Bean Fruit.

. . .

**Southeast Beanbean**

They were just to the east of the knights beside the path south to Woohoo Hooniversity when they found another suspicious spot. Luigi dug. Bean Fruit get.

. . .

**West Beanbean**

Mario hammed Luigi under a large gate, and watched him run into a cave. Luigi jumped over some ledges in the cave, and stepped over a Podoboo in the nick of time, then ran away from it when it U-turned at him as it surfed along the ground. Luigi jumped back up some ledges, and jumped back down, jumping back up when a floating Podoboo wasn't in the way.

Luigi jumped up some ledges, tried jumping up to a higher floating platform, but fell and had to crawl under circling Podoboos. He jumped over some ledges, hugged some ledge,

He jumped down again, and hopped over a hurdle with a bouncing Podoboo after hugging the tip of the hurdle for a while. Luigi made a break for it, climbed up some ledges, and just skimmed past a bouncing Podoboo.

"Congratulations! Excellent job, making it all the way here! Let me commemorate the moment with this! Take it, please!"

The mole at the end shoved a Golden Mushroom on to Luigi, and pushed him through the pipe leading him back to the start. Luigi left the cave, and was reunited with Mario after using a solo-spring to get over the gate by himself. They continued looking about for suspicious things.

Mario hammered a rock, and found a suspicious spot. He called Luigi over, and smashed him underground. Luigi fetched the Bean Fruit from the ground, and they headed north further, finding some extra goodies before continuing the hunt.

. . .

**Northwest Beanbean**

Heading up and left, the Bros found another suspicious spot. They dug, and found a Bean Fruit.

. . .

**Northeast Beanbean**

In the northeast lower corner of the area, there was this suspicious spot. Luigi was hammered underground to investigate. He came out with a Bean Fruit.

. . .

**Teehee Valley**

"You sure it'll be easier to get to that possible Bean Fruit through this valley, bro?" Luigi asked.

"Of course! We just go past the ship again. No enemies!" Mario explained as they just reached the area where the S.S. Chuckola once was. "See? No enemies."

Mario headed south according to the map, and they were on the shore again. They climbed up the ledges to the west, and there was a Bean Fruit past the gate on a suspicious spot.

"Looks like you're on your own for this one, Luigi." Mario said, hammering Luigi under the gate. He popped out the other side, and crossed the bridge, approaching the fruit until a derpy Piranha Plant with legs and pants gulped the Bean Fruit up greedily, drooling as it did so.

"Oh, no…" Luigi wasn't looking so confident as he approached the creature. It drooled and attacked.

Luigi zapped the thing, and was sniped by a bouncing miniature Bean who was unidentifiable, spat out by the Piranha Bean but whoever it was was eaten again as it came back from behind the Piranha Bean. Luigi zapped the thing again, and was pelted by two fireballs.

Luigi jolted the Piranha Bean once again, and was pelted again. He chucked a thunderball in the Piranha Bean's mouth, and was then pelted by two more fireballs. Luigi thunder-punched the thing after working up the courage. He jumped over an incoming Bean again, and watched as the creature ate whatever that was again.

Luigi hurled the thing with electrically-infused power, and jumped over a fireball, getting hit by the next one. He hurled another thunderball into the Piranha Bean's mouth, and jumped over an incoming fireball, then getting hit by the next one. Luigi continued to zap the guy until he was felled, and it left behind a Piranha Swing badge, also spitting out that Bean before disappearing.

Luigi looked at the Bean, and noticed them flash their hair.

"Prince Peasley?" Luigi gasped.

"Oh! Luigi! You saved me, didn't you? Why, thank you so much! You're a huge help! But my, my, my, Luigi… look how you've grown!"

Luigi fell to the floor.

"You know, you shrank. I'm still the same size."

"…I see. I guess I wasn't aware of the whole shrinking businesss! Say, Luigi… I'm none too fond of this body size. Do you think you could change me back?"

"Oh, I'll hammer you back to size like I do with Mario!"

"To think that you know such cool moves! You're a real zero!" Prince Peasley said. "Oh, I mean hero!"

He stood in front of Luigi.

"Heh heh! OK… but be careful!"

Luigi hammered the Prince, and he grew back to normal size.

"Heh heh heh!" Prince Peasley chuckled, flashing the area with his shine. "Look at the difference in my shine now that I'm back to normal! Zing! Now THAT'S a shine! Thank you so much, Luigi!"

"No problem!" Luigi shrugged.

"I feel like I must thank you." Prince Peasley pulled out a Bean Fruit. "Please, I insist you accept this! I found this inside that large Piranha Plant back there… please take it!"

Luigi accepted it and thanked him.

"Well, I've returned to my old self once again, so there's no point in staying here longer. Heh heh! I will most definitely be getting the next Beanstar piece! I was just heading over to it now! It's somewhere around here! Oh, and be sure to give my regards to Mr. Red Mustache!" Prince Peasley flashed the area with his shine once more before flying off. "May we meet again after gathering the Beanstar pieces!"

Luigi met up with Mario again.

"So, results?" Mario asked, looking at Prince Peasley flying off.

"Got it."

"Nice! So, I think we have… six. Where's the last one?" Mario asked.

"Hm… oh! I think we already have the last one! We must have found it earlier!" Luigi pulled out the seventh Bean Fruit. "Well, let's get back to the theatre."

**Yoshi Theatre**

"I'm so hungry… I want to eat fruit…" a red Yoshi panted.

Mario fed it a Bean Fruit.

"Wow! Fruit! Thank you!" the Yoshi thanked, swallowing it. "At first, they taste just like beans, but then the flavour of fruit oozes out… Bean Fruit is the best!"

The Yoshi created an egg, a Neon Egg.

"Oh, you can take that."

Mario then fed the other six, and headed back to Boddle.

"Hmm. Well done… I did well asking you two. My, Neon Eggs are beautiful. On the sign you go!" Boddle put all seven on the seven spots he could put stuff up on. "Wah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! You did it! You did it!"

. . .

The sign was up on the wall, and it looked flashy and amazing.

Shouts of "Hooray!", "It's complete!", "I have watching!", "Amazing!" and "Awesome!" were heard.

"Thanks to you two, my theater is now complete! Marvelous!" Boddle thanked. "Very well! As promised… Here is your reward!"

Mario and Luigi snapped their fingers, jumped, did a spin and posed again.

"BEANSTAR!" they cheered.

_You got a Beanstar Piece! Only one more to go!_

"Excellent! We're going to be rather busy preparing for our grand opening! Pardon us!"

"Looks like we only have one more to go. Let's go to the southwest." Mario decided.


	38. Shadow Style

Mario and Luigi - A Superstar Story

Chapter 38: Shadow Style

"I wonder where we'll find the last Beanstar Piece in these woods…" Luigi wondered as he trudged along the forest path.

Mario and Luigi wandered the forest, looking for some new leads to go on. Eventually, they came across an area early to the west, where there were three blocks (one having some coins, another having a Refreshing Herb and a third having a 1-UP Mushroom). There was a fat Koopa blocking something, and Mario used Luigi to maul down the guy to find out what.

The Koopa moved out of the way, allowing passage into the cave, where they gathered a few coins and goods, before coming out the other side, in a new part of the woods.

"Why does this place give off a creepy atmosphere?" Luigi asked Mario. He just shrugged. There was a Winkle blocking a path.

"Winkle Realm lies ahead. Outsiders not allowed to pass through." The Winkle boomed in a rather deep voice that made Luigi jump.

"Hm… that sounds tedious enough to access for the Piece to possibly be there. We should find a way to get past this guy." Mario decided after walking away from a Bros Block they bashed afterwards.

"This is Winkle Colosseum." A Winkle near an open gate boomed. "Surviving it is hard."

Luigi shivered as Mario pulled him inside the lobby room. They mingled with the Winkles to get some Intel.

"So, know anything about this place?" Mario asked two Winkles.

"Next time, we enter." One started.

"We two will win." The other finished.

"Um, what's the prize here?" Luigi asked a lone Winkle.

"Enter Winkle Colosseum and win… and Winkles acknowledge you…" the Winkle stated.

"So, should we enter?" Mario asked as they met up at the desk.

"Well, we might be able to find the Beanstar Piece if we do, so yeah." Luigi said.

"This is Winkle Colosseum reception. Are you up to the challenge?"

"Bring it."

"Pay 500 coins and the rest is free… 500 coins…"

"We'll pay." Mario handed over a bag of 500 coins. They had thrice as much, anyway. The Winkle pointed over to the door. The Bros approached the Winkle guarding it.

"Good luck!" the Winkle said as it opened the door, leading to an arena. Mario and Luigi were given a mirror to hold between each other, and weird heads were shooting balls at them. "You'll need it…"

. . .

"Oh! Incredible! You did it! The high score is yours!" the Winkle gasped.

. . .

"You are champion. Take this. The Winkles acknowledge you." the Winkle by the door stated as he handed Mario a Winkle Card. They left to where that Winkle was guarding a secret area.

"That is the Winkle Card. You are Colosseum champions. Winkles acknowledge you." the Winkle stated as it moved out of the way slowly.

The Bros headed on through and grabbed a Nut from a block. They jumped up some ledges and found Popple reaching for the Beanstar Piece on a statue of some sort of Winkle Queen with a stick.

Mario and Luigi approached him. Popple whirled round.

"Ohh! What is this?! Boo, I say! Y-You guys again?! But I found this treasure first! It's mine, see?"

Popple made a break for it around anti-clockwise the statue after nabbing the Beanstar Piece, but Mario blocked him off from the south exit, and Luigi blocked him in from the east. They slowly winded him in against the northern wall, where there was no escape.

"Oh, sure, you guys are real tough, teaming up on me! Don't think you can beat me just 'cause I'm alone. It's my solo debut on the battle lines, see?"

Popple looked steaming mad as he readied himself for oncoming attacks. Luigi came flying into him with an electrically-infused hand, bouncing from Mario's head. He was zapped from the floor-spark Luigi created, and Popple dropped to his knees, his defences lowered. Popple lunged at Luigi as he ran back to Mario, retrieving a Mushroom of sorts from him.

"Quit stealing our stuff!" Mario hurled three fireballs in an arc at Luigi, starting Fire Bros. Luigi smashed them all at Popple, no problem.

He groaned in pain, and was then zapped from the ground up again through another use of Thunder Bros.

"Hey! Stop doing that, see?" Popple said. "Otherwise…I'll do THIS, see?!"

Popple used the Mushroom, which was just a Mushroom, plain and simple. Mario looked annoyed.

"Hey! Don't go back to using your stolen items!" Mario growled.

"TOO BAD, I say! I play down and dirty, see?" Popple explained.

"Well, here's a taste of your own medicine!" Mario grabbed Luigi, and hurled him at Popple, knocking him on his butt, and Luigi flew into Mario as he jumped at him, the two of them spinning like a helicopter back to Popple, where they sucked away a Super Mushroom from him.

"Oh, sure, you guys try to take my own true forte and outdo me, that's real mature!" Popple was outraged. "Have at 'em!"

Luigi smashed Mario into Popple via Knockback Bros, and the thief stuttered backwards in pain. Popple turned around, and moonwalked over to Mario, snagging his hammer through some petty movements, and smashing Luigi with it. He smashed Mario, and tried smashing Luigi again, but was beaten to the whack. Popple backed off, and was then burned by Mario.

"Oh, so you think you're so cool, using all kinds of magical mumbo jumbo to mess me up, huh? Well, I've got your hammer, so I'll smash you up, see?"

Luigi jumped on to Mario's head, bounced off it, and zapped the ground and Popple from the earth up, causing Popple to drop to his knees and his defense to be lowered. He stumbled to his feet again, and pulled out a bag of stuff. He hurled out coins, watermelons, rocks, bombs, mushrooms both bad and good, and there was even a rupee and Mario's hammer in there. There was a mix of yelps, cheers, sighs and groans from the Bros as they got a mixture of the items listed.

"Oh, shoot! I threw out the good stuff!" Popple grumbled as Mario picked up his hammer.

Mario hurled five fireballs at Luigi in an arc, once again performing Fire Bros. Luigi smashed the first four back, but the fifth hit him, and he panicked, running into Popple from behind and extinguishing it. Luigi zapped him quickly and ran to a safe distance.

Popple once again threw a variety of things out of his bag recklessly, and had the same result as before. Mario sent Luigi underground and he popped up several times underneath Popple, heavily damaging him with Burrow Bros.

"You're invading my personal space, see? I don't like that, so how about some of this!" Popple snatched both of Mario's gloves off him, and the plumber put on spares. Popple took his gloves off, and put Mario's on. He burned Mario, then Luigi, then Mario, but Luigi zapped him before he had the chance.

"Hey, you know I can still use Fire, right?" Mario asked. "Those gloves only has a part of the fire power in it. I'm the source, and it'll be strongest from me!"

"Oh, that's real nice, trying to make me feel crummy about my stolen spoils? Well, boo!" Popple slapped Mario in the face with his gloves. Mario burned Popple, sending him in a sprint back to his spot. Luigi came at him with a stomp, and they exchanged attacks, Luigi stomping Popple, and Popple stealing his hammer.

Popple smashed Luigi with the hammer, sending him back to Mario, who jumped over the incoming Luigi and heard him crash into the statue. Mario smashed Popple in the face, and that knocked him out cold.

_Mario levelled up to Level 26! Mario got an extra +3BP!_

_Luigi levelled up to Level 26! Luigi got an extra +5DEF!_

Mario tried taking back his gloves, but Popple rolled on to his hands, and the guy was pretty heavy. The plumber sighed, and walked back to Luigi, who was a few steps away and had retrieved the Beanstar Piece from Popple.

They snapped their fingers, jumped, spun and posed as a bush rustled and flew off.

"BEANSTAR!"

_You got a Beanstar Piece! You have all four pieces! Hurry! Back to Beanbean Castle!_

"…N-No! B-But I'm not giving up, see?" Popple jumped to his feet and drilled out of sight. Mario and Luigi walked past the statue in a haste, jumping down via drop-off.

They entered the cave again, and left it again, ran past the fat Koopa taking a nap beside the entrance, swerved along the path, jumped up a ledge, walked into an area with a pipe, and took it back to the Castle Town, from Pipe 5 to Pipe 3.

They ran up the path, and saw both guards get knocked out, roll down the stairs and into the water by something close to the ground. Mario and Luigi gasped, and Popple popped out before the castle entrance.

"I'm not giving up, see?" Popple repeated, attacking the Bros.

Popple grabbed Luigi's gloves, and backed off. He took off one of Mario's, and put on one of Luigi's.

"How'd you like that? Fire and Thunder, see?" Popple asked as he zapped Mario.

"YAH!" Mario yelped, getting shocked.

Luigi covered his hands again with his spare gloves, then charged up some thunder to get them ready for battle, and then zapped him with a full frontal barrel roll which involved charging up till his whole body was tingling and running up before rolling into him like a runaway wheel that's electrically-charged. This sent Popple flying into a pillar by where one of the guards once stood.

Luigi groaned as he stumbled to his feet, him having taken some damage from such a reckless tackle.

"Remind me to never do that again…" Luigi asked as he stumbled back to Mario. Popple got to his feet, and drilled into the ground.

"Uh, Luigi…?" Mario looked at Luigi. "You cold?"

"Bro, it's Spring. I'm just fine." Luigi started popping up on the spot, falling on his butt. He continued to pop up and down like the lid of a pot of heating popcorn. He was jittering in a frenzy. Luigi went flying as Popple burst out of the ground in a blurry shadow.

"Oh, wow! He's done Burrow Bros!" Mario gasped. "SHADOW STYLE!"

Luigi landed in the water as Popple continued his onslaught of attacks. He burned Mario up close on the hat, and Mario dropped the hat in the water before smashing Popple in the face with his hammer.

Luigi jumped out of the water, Mario's hat in hand. Popple snagged a Super Mushroom from Luigi when he slipped in his own puddle and was exposed, but Mario smashed it out of his possession. Luigi stomped Popple as he stuttered back, but Popple started swinging him about. Luigi charged up some electricity, and that zapped them both, along with Mario who was stepping in the same puddle as them.

The trio were blown away from each other as Mario grabbed the Super Mushroom in mid-air. Popple looked satisfied, though, as he had snagged a bag with stuff jingling inside as he got up to his feet.

"What's in the bag?"

"None of your business, see?"

Mario hurled a fireball at Popple, causing him to jump and slip in a nearby puddle. A pineapple spilled out of the bag, along with some coins, some good mushrooms, some bad mushrooms, some bombs, a watermelon, some whoopee cushions and another rupee.

"Where'd you get that from?"

"Now THAT'S underhanded, see? Switching my shiny green jewel with a pineapple! Boo, I say! I-I'll be back!" Popple drilled into the ground with the pineapple in hand after picking it up. "I-I'm not giving up!"

Mario looked at Luigi. He shrugged.

"No idea how that pineapple got into the mix." Luigi stated. "It wasn't there in our last battle."

"Well, let's get to the castle before he comes back." Mario said as they ran into the castle, leaving the guards outside drifting beside the bridge, unconscious.

. . .

Mario and Luigi held up all four Beanstar Pieces, Queen Bean and Toadsworth watching. The pieces floated in the air, and began rotating in a clockwise fashion. A yellow ray of light emanated as the pieces moulded together, once again becoming the Beanstar as a pillar of light shot out from the castle, nearly blowing everyone away.

_The Beanstar is revived! You got the Beanstar!_

"Hmm… So the Beanstar is finally back to normal…"

Lady Lima came running with an orange GBA, an odd sight to most.

"A message has arrived from Bowletta. I shudder to think…" Lady Lima said, panting as Bowletta's ugly hologram appeared on the transmission of the GBA.

"Very good! You fools make fine scavengers! Now, I want Red and Green to bring that Beanstar to me!"

"Hey, how did you know we found all the pieces?" Mario asked.

"I have a spy planted near you at all times. HE'S been watching you very carefully."

"I have watching!" a voice piped in from who-knows-where.

"Ah, I see you've finally realized the presence of my, as he says it, most best, pupil. But alas, you shall never find him. He hides like a spy, or a secret agent." Bowletta cackled. "Now, then, the drop point is at the far end of the ocean, at that crypt for cruddy jokes called Joke's End!"

"Where's that?" Luigi asked.

"Bring out a map, I'll show you." Bowletta said. Luigi held up a map near the vile hologram. Bowletta pointed her/his/its claws at the northeastern-most part of the map.

"Oh, there. Thanks, meanie."

Bowletta glared at Luigi, who screamed like a girl and ran away.

"You can't get to Joke's End by walking on the seafloor, so don't try it, cretins." Bowletta stated sharply. "Come after you learn how to cross the sea surface! And don't lose the Beanstar on the way, butterfingers!"

. . .

"Hmm… But if he… she… uh, IT plans to return Princess Peach when we give it the Beanstar…" Queen Bean mused, a bit torn up about how to genderize this new enemy. "Then it can't be planning to use Peach's voice to awaken the Beanstar after all…"

"That would seem to be so!" Toadsworth seemed a bit riled up.

"Relax, all of you." Prince Peasley strolled in. "We can just give the fiend THIS!"

He held up a Beanstar replica as Lady Lima looked pleased.

"Oh! A fake Beanstar! Of course!"

"It even floats!" Prince Peasley let it drift into Luigi's possession.

_You got a fake Beanstar!_

"Also, please take along a change of clothes for the princess." Toadsworth said. "I'm sure that Princess Peach likely tried or will try to escape on your way there, doing untold damage to her lovely dress… just thinking of it drives me mad! CURSE THAT BOWLETTA!"

Toadsworth ran off to fetch the spare dress, driving back in on a pink suitcase, similar to how he did with the brown suitcase they gave the Bros in the beginning.

"At least this old servant can help in some way…" Toadsworth opened the suitcase as he hopped off, a dress flying into Luigi's face.

_You got Peach's extra dress!_

"Now, now, Master Luigi, this is our fair Princess' spare dress. We cannot soil it if we wish to deliver to her so she may have a clean outfit to wear when she's rescued." Toadsworth scolded.

. . .

"To get to Joke's End, you have no choice but to travel above the ocean waves… perhaps if you go to the beach, you'll find a way to get there. Apparently, there once was quite a fine surfing spot at one of this land's beaches…" Prince Peasley flashed the place with his shine. "Excellent! Then the two of you will execute our daring plan!"

Prince Peasley ran out… and back in.

"Oh, I almost forgot…" Prince Peasley remembered. "You won our little Beanstar wager, so here are your Mushroom coins: 99,999,999,999,999 of them! Oh, but I could only get Beanbean coins, so you'll have to check with Lady Lima."

"Yahoo!" Mario and Luigi cheered as they caught the bag full of "Now, that's gotta be worth at least something in this land's currency!"

. . .

"At today's exchange rate, 99,999,999,999,999 Mushroom coins comes to…" Lady Lima pulled out a calculator and notepad and did some equations. "99 Beanbean coins!"

Mario and Luigi crashed to the floor.

"Darn these ever-changing currency exchange rates…"

"And when we first arrived here, about 100 Mushroom coins was 10 Beanbean coins." Luigi remembered. "And since the time we've been here, it's much, much, much lower on the Mushroom side of things than what I think was under 10:1 at our arrival."

"Well, let's get prepared for things, I guess." Mario shrugged as they both got up again.


	39. Hammer Time VIII

Mario and Luigi - A Superstar Story

Chapter 39: Hammer Time VIII

Mario looked at the new editions to the Castle Town shop, and decided on some Queen Bean Jeans for Luigi, some Beanstar Pants for himself, and a Salvage Badge for Luigi.

"OK, we're ready to get moving again." Mario decided as they headed east out of the shop and Beanbean Castle Town towards the beach. They walked past the yellow pipe they came out of after the Beanstar was broken up, and there was a black shiny rock blocking their path.

"Now, there's something over there, and I think we need to get there." Mario stated. "I seriously doubt these hammers can break such shiny rocks, so let's see if Sledge and Mallet can power our hammers up."

Luigi nodded, and they headed back.

. . .

Mario and Luigi walked into the area with Sledge and Mallet's workplace, and found them napping on their anvil table. Mario stamped the ground.

"Whoa! I was wonderin' who that might be, and it turns out to be those Mario Bros again!" Mallet gasped, getting up.

"You guys have the best timin'!" Sledge stated. "Why, we just now finished masterin' a brand-spankin' new Hammer-makin' technique!"

"Oh yeah!" Mario cheered.

"Want us to re-reforge your Hammers for you?"

"Why not? Sure!" Mario answered as the Bros jumped for joy and high-fived.

"In that case, this'll be the debut of our new Hammer-makin' technique! We'll get right to re-forgin'! "

Mario and Luigi laid their hammers down on the anvil.

"Here we go!"

"On your toes!"

Mallet started hammering the hammers with his head, and Sledge was hammering Mallet into the hammer. It was true hammerception at work, and it was very effective, apparently, as the hammers were now golden yellow, sparkling with shiny power.

"Hooo… That's some fine work we did!"

"These are definitely the finest Hammers available! They're even more powerful than before!"

Mario and Luigi picked up their hammers, and cheered.

"With those Hammers, you can break any kind of rock! Any kind at all!" Mallet exclaimed.

"We've used all our talents in makin' these Hammers! May they serve you well!"

Mario and Luigi walked over to the two bridges to the east to try their hammers out, this time going to the far right bridge and smashing the black rock blocking it to pieces, crossing the bridge and smashing another black rock blocking another secret room to rubble. Mario kicked it away and they walked inside.

"I am Thwomp, and I love a good game! Test your luck for a mere 500 coins!" Thwomp boomed. "Are you guys ready to show me the mightiest swing you've got?"

"Uh, sure." Mario proceeded to try and pay Thwomp, when he smashed the ground.

"You don't have enough coins!" Thwomp boomed.

. . .

"OK, we sold a ton of stuff, we should have thrice the amount we need, now." Mario stated as they walked back into the room with Thwomp.

"I am Thwomp, and I love a good game! Test your luck for a mere 500 coins!" Thwomp boomed again as if it was their first meeting. "Are you guys ready to show me the mightiest swing you've got?"

"Sure."

Three black rocks with large cracks on them came raining down.

"Break any one of these that you like with your Hammer." Thwomp ordered. "If you're lucky, you'll get yourself one incredible treasure!"

Mario smashed the left one, and they found a green scroll.

_Young grasshoppah, if you are reading this, you are once again willing to learn a secret and deadly Bros Move that is significantly harder than the last one. Read onwards, braver one!_

_The Cyclone Bros, the technique of wind! Let your brother hammer you down to size, and tighten up your body by spinning constantly on the spot. Once your brother jumps on you, stop spinning, and let the wind guide your course… into enemies. Remind your brother to stick out his hammer before you begin to move. This move requires much, much, much, much practice._

_The Master_

Luigi read this through, and explained it to Mario. He nodded, and they planned to use it later in battle. Mario tried once again, and got 800 coins, a 300-coin net gain. They then got nothing, then 500 coins, then 800 coins, then 500 coins, then 800 coins, then 500, 500, 800, 800, and that's when Mario finally said no. Thwomp was STEAMING MAD and smashed the ground.

"Scram! Get out of here! Scram before I crush you!" Thwomp barked, Luigi gone in a flash. Mario followed casually, Thwomp giving him one last quake before he left. The Bros headed back to Beanbean Castle Town to grab a Woohoo Blend, a Chuckle Blend and a Chuckoccino, the former two Luigi chugged down and the remainder Mario drank.

They headed back to that black rock on the beach near the yellow pipe again, and smashed it. Then they saw an arrow pointing at a slit in the ground.

"Beanbean Beach, East, Surfing Spot." Luigi read a sign that was blocked by the rock.

"Looks like we're here." Mario smiled. "Let's try crossing the sea."

The jellyfish in the corner, leaning on the same mound of ground as the sign, piped up.

"Huh? You want to cross the sea? Why, such a thing is impossible! Without a surfboard, that is…" the jellyfish paused, then looked at Luigi. "Say… Maybe if you can find SOMETHING to jam into that hole… maybe it'll make some sort of surfboard substitute! Maybe…"

Mario looked at Luigi.

"Well, I'm used like a sink by you, so I guess I should use you like a surfboard." Mario shrugged as he hammered Luigi into the slit, and Luigi, flattened out and looking like a surfboard, popped out. Mario picked up Luigi, ran towards the ocean, and started surfing.

"Yahoo!"

Mario jumped as he approached some weird yellow balloons, and got some coins.

"Money at sea! Awesome!" Mario cheered as he did this some more as he headed straight east to explore the place.

**Surfing Game Island**

"I've got a little game going on here. Any chance you two might be interested in playing?" a green Oho Jee on a lone island said as Mario and Luigi hit land and drifted to a stop.

"I'm very interested." Mario stated.

"Well, you simply have to jump and hit all 23 balloons and get to the island south of here as quickly as possible. The faster you do it, the better your prize!" the green Oho Jee said.

Mario and Luigi had gotten 39-40 seconds about 4 times, and their patience was running out as the Oho Jee continued to taunt them about getting 38 seconds. They got that once again, and just left the place after getting so many Hoo and Chuckle Beans.

They surfed north, collecting some coins from balloons along the way, soon docking at Joke's End. They walked north, and smashed up all of the black rocks there, and with the path now clear, they headed up the stairs and into Pipe 9, now having all 9 Pipes in the junction.

The Bros went over the nine pipes again. Pipe 1 took 'em to Stardust Fields, Pipe 2 took 'em to the North Castle Area, Pipe 3 took them to Beanbean Castle Town, Pipe 4 took them to South Castle Area, Pipe 5 took them to Chucklehuck Woods, Pipe 6 took them to East Castle Area, Pipe 7 took them to Little Fungitown, Pipe 8 took them to Gwarhar Lagoon, Pipe 9 took them to Joke's End.

They went through Pipe 8, back to the Lagoon. They headed all the way back to the black rock they saw here earlier, well, it was really a pair of black rocks.

They smashed 'em up with their new shiny hammers, and headed east. They found some Syrup and a miniature pink starfish with a small blue guitar around him.

"Uh, well, hey there, fellas. I'm the famous starfish star, Spangle… I'm, uh, pleased to meetcha."

"Well, hi, I guess." Mario shrugged.

"Whoa, now! I tell ya, since I first came here 365 days ago… I ain't seen a soul! Y'all are the first folks I've seen!"

"I guess it's because you were behind two very hard rocks that were just broken by our very powered up hammers. I think that in itself explains why you've yet to see anyone." Mario stated the facts.

"Uh, lemme tell ya… Even a star from way over that big ol' sea… needs a stage to stand on. Unh! Yeah! That's right, baby! Now, uh, tell me fellas… Don't ya'll know a place that'd suit a shining' star like me? C'mon, now!" Spangle urged, eager for an answer.

"What kind of place?" Luigi asked.

"Yeah… That's right… A place for a shinin' star like me… Like the top of a festive tree!"

"WELL! We know just the place!" Mario exclaimed.

"Uh, what's that, now?! You know just the place? Well, hot dog, baby! I'm ready to rock 'n' roll!" Spangle cheered. "Uh, say, fellas… Looks like you got yourselves a big ol' suitcase… so how 'bout you let me crash in that thang, baby?"

Spangle jumped into the suitcase Mario opened, and closed it. They ran over to Hermie, who repeated what he said about finding something to replace the Beanstar Piece with.

"Did you bring thomething to trade for the bean-thing? Ehh?" Hermie asked, watching Mario pull out Spangle.

"Hey, now! Are we there yet?" Spangle asked. He locked eyes with Hermie, and they were both interested.

"Whoa, nelly! Now that's what I call a festive tree! Amazin'! I'm headin' straight to the top, baby!" Spangle jumped on top of Hermie. "Woo-HOOOO! This is great, baby! I'm a-rockin' this stage!"

"You guyth never fail!" Hermie chuckled.

"Hermie! Look at that! Isn't it wonderfied?"

"You did it! I thuppothe I owe you tith in return! Take it with you!" Hermie gave the Bros a Soulful Bros, which was a badge.

"Well, our work here is done. Let's get going." Mario said, and they headed back to the Pipe Junction, going to Pipe 7, Little Fungitown. They headed all the way over to the gear shop, and bought a Spiny Badge AA for Mario, and returned to the Pipe Junction as Mario put the Game Boy Horror SP on him as well. Luigi also made sure his Greed Wallet was still on him, if it wasn't already.

They entered Pipe 3, heading back to Beanbean Castle Town. In the item store, they stocked up on Mushrooms and Syrup and other supplies they knew they'd need.

**Starbeans Café**

Mario ordered a Hoohoo Blend, and watched the brown juice pour in after he watched the Bean at the desk pour in their 25 needed Hoo Beans.

"One Hoohoo Blend, ready to go!" Mario took his drink as Professor E. Gadd walked in.

"Ho ho! So, you've finally completed the last bean juice concoction missing from our menu… this'll be my final tasting!" the Bean at the desk stated, nodding his head at the Professor.

"Pardon my hastiness, but may I have the final sampling?" Mario handed the drink to E. Gadd, and he sipped some. "Hoo… Since I know this is the last new flavour I will taste… I must say it's the finest yet!"

"Oh, stop exaggerating!" the Bean shouted.

"Thanks for that sampling. Here's a little something I invented in my spare time. Maybe it'll aid you." Professor E. Gadd handed Mario a Game Boy Horror SP along with his drink.

"Hey! I remember that thing!" Luigi pointed at the portable.

"Since I've now sampled all the drinks that there are to sample… I'll most likely no longer be making any appearances here… but as the owner, I feel I must leave this here in my shop." Professor E. Gadd led the Bros over to the wall to the west of the main counter, and put up a picture of himself, with a yellow dot in the middle of the black background being the background. The picture had him resting his head on his hand and gazing to the left.

"Nice portrait." Mario commented.

"If ever you have any hardships… or any sad days… then you can gaze upon this picture and think of me… There! Don't you think it brings a little respect to this shop and makes it slightly less… kiddy? Oh, and I have miniature ones, too. Here."

Professor E. Gadd handed both Bros each a pocket-sized copy of the portrait. They both put it in their pocket.

"Thanks, I guess." Mario thanked.

"…I think it stinks." The Bean behind the counter criticized.

* * *

**The VIII means Version 3, not 8 in this case. And I love how there was a trilogy of chapters named the same general thing because a similar thing happened all three times. Anyway, this is the last time you'll see this sort of chapter in this story, which is actually sorta sad.**


	40. The Jokes End Here

**This chapter has been edited to answer a plot-hole involving future events that had not been filled as suggested. Kudos to Mike in the reviews for the idea of that.**

* * *

Mario and Luigi - A Superstar Story

Chapter 40: The Jokes End Here

**Joke's End **

Mario and Luigi travelled up the big stairs rather than turning left to Pipe 9, and saw a floating blue creature floating by a statue just before a passage deeper inside.

"…Hold it, you two." They said. "This palace is our playground, understand? Do you two want to play here, too?"

"Uh, sure." Mario said cautiously.

"In that case, the least you could do is say hello to those of us who were here first."

"Hiya." Luigi waved. "So, who are you?"

"Eh? Me? I'm Jojora. I'm a buddy of the cousin of the descendant of the spirit who once guarded this place."

Mario told Jojora about Bowletta kidnapping Peach and all of that business, and asked if Jojora had seen anything like that.

"Princess Peach? Bowletta? Man, I have NO idea what you're talking about!" Jojora exclaimed. "…Whatever. Look, if you want to go inside, then go right ahead. Be my guest. Go nuts. I don't know what kind of adventure you've been on to get here, man… getting through here won't be nearly as easy as what you're used to! No way!"

Jojora floated deeper inside, and the Bros just looked at each other.

"Do you think they really know what they're talking about when it comes to how dangerous this place is?" Mario asked.

"Who knows? I'm not sure what to think of it, though." Luigi shrugged. "If anything, I'd like to turn back now."

Mario grabbed Luigi, and pulled him through the doorway, where there was a closed door. There was a fire on the left, and none on the right until Mario got involved. The door opened. They walked over to the east, high-jumping up to the highest section, where the door was. A pair of Ice Snifits stopped them, along with a Glurp.

"Let's get that blue slimy thing with Fire Bros!" Mario shouted. Luigi nodded, and got into position.

Mario charged up some fireballs, four to be exact, and hurled them in an arc, one by one. Luigi smashed them all back over his brother's head with expertise as they eventually took down the Glurp.

An Ice Snifit got all up in Mario's face, shooting a snowball at him, which he kicked away effortlessly. The other Ice Snifit actually hit its target, though, which was Luigi.

Luigi charged up some thunder, jumped off Mario's head and zapped both Snifits with Thunder Bros, bringing them down, defense-wise. Mario charged up four more fireballs, and let Luigi bat them at the first Snifit, which defeated it. The other shot Luigi with another snowball, and Luigi seemed slightly annoyed.

"Let's try that special move we learnt, Cyclone Bros." Mario suggested. "It might be effective against this guy."

Luigi hammered Mario into his smaller form, and jumped on Mario as he spun in circles rapidly like a spinning plate. As soon as Luigi got a firm standing on Mario, the plumber drove at the Ice Snifit, allowing Luigi, who had his hammer stuck out to batter the poor creature with impending blows of steel and pain, three of which were enough to defeat the thing.

"These enemies aren't SO tough." Mario stated. "A step-up from before, but still in our league. What was Jojora talking about? This was a total breeze."

Luigi shrugged as they went through the unblocked doorway, into a rather large room, probably the main room of this place. They saw Jojora float up to the top of the room, and to the east.

"I wonder if you can even make it over here…" Jojora wondered aloud, loud enough for the Bros to catch that. Jojora floated off further to the east, now out of sight without a doubt.

"Well, let's find a way up there, then." Mario said as they approached some green liquid in a cauldron fitted into the ground of sorts. Two Glurps attacked them as they gawked at it. One of them flipped Luigi over just by sticking its face out of its puddle-like body structure which actually swept him off his feet. Mario came at that Glurp with a fireball that took down the pest in one blow.

The lone Glurp came at Mario and tried biting him to get revenge for its lost ally, but Mario hammered the thing away, getting the thing to back off for now, but hardly scratching the thing. Mario nearly lost his hammer in the Glurp's substance as it moved away, but pulled it out before it got too far. Luigi had gotten up now, and they came at the Glurp with Cyclone Bros, which actually didn't defeat the thing this time.

Mario scorched the creature afterwards, and that seemed to do the trick. They headed over to an western room with some coins, a Super Mushroom and a jar of Super Syrup. They headed back, and broke down a blockade with a crack in it after a few strikes of the hammer, heading through the newly made northwestern path only after Luigi read a sign talking about not boiling the Joke Broth Soup, which was apparently that green liquid in the inserted cauldron.

. . .

**Teehee Valley**

Popple popped out of the ground when he felt he wasn't followed and got sick of nearly getting mauled by underground Wigglers. He was now apparently in a desert valley of sorts.

"Aw, Wiggler spit. I've drilled myself into the frying pan..." Popple groaned as he sighed, and tried drilling back into the ground. Unfortunately for him, the Wigglers had filled in the hole, and the ground was too hard to crack through and he'd break something trying. Popple stopped spinning. "That ground's too hard, see? Now thanks to it, I gotta walk, see? YARGH!"

. . .

Mario and Luigi were now outside, and there were flying Elite Troopeas on the staircase.

"Oh, no, those guys are now airborne!" Mario gasped, horrified. The thing looked their way, and dived towards them. The Bros thought fast, and spin-jumped up the staircase, just dodging the ambush. When they realized they were safe, the Bros stopped hyper-ventilating. "Those guys are not what I want to mess with here."

"Maybe Jojora was right about this place, or the very least these guys." Luigi panted.

"As a meteorologist, I am particularly interested in the whirlwinds that appear in the seas in this area. When rotational energy is added to warm updrafts of air, whirlwinds occur. It's quite fascinating." A Bean in a scarf and some winter clothes began as he gazed out a telescope across the sea.

"…I would love to research this mechanism further and test it out somewhere." He finished.

"Hmm, that may just be helpful to know." Mario brainstormed to himself as they went up another flight of stairs. There were a ton of enemies here, and they made a break for the area past the gate keeping them in this enemy-clustered area, until a pair of Glurps tripped them up.

Mario charged up five fireballs, and hurled them at Luigi, who smashed all of them at one of the Glurps, which defeated it in the end. The remaining Glurp tried biting Luigi, but the plumber hammered the thing away.

A Clumph, or an absurdly big-boned caveman as Mario might call it, came running into the fight here, and smashed the ground between Mario and Luigi. This swept Mario off his feet. Luigi thought fast, and zapped the Glurp, defeating it.

The Clumph stayed around, though, so the Bros came at it with Burrow Bros, sending the absurdly big-boned caveman flying into the air. Luigi smashed the guy where it hurt several more times, yet at the end of the assault, the Clumph was still standing.

"This absurdly big-boned caveman is as tough as NAILS." Mario was astounded as Luigi hammered him and he started to spin. Mario drove at the Clumph, now performing Cyclone Bros, and the pain a whirling fortress of steel, hammer, pain and Bros brought down on to the Clumph finally toppled the gargantuan.

"OK, maybe Jojora WAS right. Those FLYING Elite Troopeas, and now the absurdly big-boned caveman. I'm nearly scared to think of what else we'll find here." Mario shuddered as he was dragged into another fight with two Ice Snifits and a Clumph.

"Well, I'm going to be beat after we get rid of all these enemies." Mario stated, charging up six fireballs and chucking them like the above average pitcher he was at Luigi, who smashed them to left field and hit the Ice Snifit dead on the head, defeating it.

While Mario and Luigi were busy slapping hands, the other Ice Snifit shot Luigi with a snowball. The plumber groaned, then lowered the remaining enemies' defense with Thunder Bros, which allowed four fireballs to take down the Ice Snifit. The Clumph came at the Bros with his large club, and smashed the ground, causing large purple waves of pain to spread from the impact point.

"That looks a lot like what Queen Bean did when she was under that worm's influence…" Mario realized as they both jumped over the waves and came at the Clumph with Cyclone Bros.

"Maybe that's why we're not half-bad at dodging his attacks, then." Luigi said as he got ready for Mario's fireballs, which he sent straight down to centerfield and watched the Clumph get pelted and then suffer burn damage. They jumped over some fast yellow waves like pros, and Luigi lowered the Clumph's defense further.

Five (rather than four this time) hurled fireballs were once again smashed at the Clumph, and that defeated it in the end.

Two more Clumphs and an Ice Snifit came running.

"This better be the last wave of enemies… I can only keep up with so much back-to-back battling in one day." Luigi panted as he batted down more fireballs at the Ice Snifit, which defeated it. They jumped over both yellow shockwaves the Clumphs' club attack sent at them, and Luigi proceeded to lower their defense before getting hurled at one of the Clumphs by Mario.

He lowered the enemies' stats further, and watched Mario take down one of the Clumphs with a kick to the face. They jumped over the lone Clumph's shockwaves, and came at him with Cyclone Bros followed by Fire Bros, which was then followed by another Cyclone Bros that ended the battle.

_Mario levelled up to Level 27! Mario got an extra +5BP!_

_Luigi levelled up to Level 27! Luigi got an extra +2POW!_

"Ah, the waves of enemies has finally stopped." Luigi sighed in relief as they headed to the east, where there was a ton of blocks, which got them two Hoo Beans, a Super Mushroom, some coins and a Refreshing Herb. The room to the north was a one-way path, and they were on the wrong side, so they headed back and then east.

An Ice Snifit tried to shoot a chunk of ice at the Bros to start an ambush, but the Bros waited for the chunk to just about hit them before spin-jumping out of the way and on to metal flooring, which they headed north from into an area with metal spiky logs. Luigi zapped Mario's back, and walked in line with the logs as they slowly went to the right.

They moved out of the way when they saw a path north, and once again did this except they were moving to the left the second time. This yielded in them finding a block that, unknown to them at that very moment, opened a door to the east of the Joke Soup Broth which would let them continue.

The Bros jumped up on to a higher platform with speedy spiky metal logs rolling to the left, and ran in line with them, jumping off to the south when they got the chance, and barely making it. In the next metal log section, there were logs that rolled a bit every few seconds. The Bros got in line with them when they stopped, and Luigi zapped Mario, them walking sideways when the logs moved a bit.

The zap wore off, and Luigi zapped Mario again quickly before the logs moved again, them moving in the line with them and then reaching the way south. They high-jumped up some ledges, and jumped down back to ground level, heading south out of this area, into one with many blocks.

"Hey! Someone pilfered the contents of all these blocks!" Mario groaned. "Now we'll never know what goodies we could have obtained!"

"Uh, bro. We were here briefly a while ago, you know."

"We were? Huh, you learn something new every day." Mario said, genuinely shocked.

"Too true, bro." Luigi said. "Too true, bro."

. . .

**Teehee Valley**

Popple continued to trawl the valley, looking for some source of water, some softer ground to dig out of this place in, or an exit out of this valley, neither of which he was getting any closer to, as he was on his knees now, crawling a bit on them every few seconds.

He saw a bank of gold built out of gold suddenly in front of him in the distance.

"Money, see? A bank, see?" Popple leaped to his feet and exclaimed. "Popple, the dashing Shadow Thief, shall be robbing this bank!"

Popple zipped off towards the bank in the greatest of hastes.


	41. The Super Solo Bros

**This chapter has been edited to answer a plot-hole involving future events that had not been filled as suggested. Kudos to Mike in the reviews for the idea of that.**

* * *

Mario and Luigi - A Superstar Story

Chapter 41: The Super Solo Bros

**Unspecified Location**

Peach was bored to death. She was just hung up here, with absolutely nothing to do, not that she could do anything in her state. Tied up inside a flying cruiser. That's the life, that's for sure. Fawful was sitting there, fiddling with his headgear, and Bowletta was just staring out at Joke's End.

"They'll be here. They wouldn't want to leave YOU with us." Bowletta reassured itself, repeating those words every few seconds.

"Oh, um, I'm a bit thirsty, kidnappers." Peach said, trying to try something. "Could you get me a glass of water?"

"I have fury! You are having the thinking of a fink rat! Mistress Bowletta, ignore her wishes!"

"What do you think I am, a fool?" Bowletta asked, suddenly, she froze up, then continuing. "WHY of course, anything for you, Peachy."

"Mistress Bowletta! You cannot be having the falling for it! She is trying to play us like fink-rats!" Fawful cried.

Peach was a bit freaked out at this sudden display of Bowletta being bi-polar.

"NUT-" Bowletta suddenly froze up again, before continuing. "FAWFUL! WHAT ARE YOU GAWKING AT ME FOR? GET BACK-I MEAN, GET PEACHY HERE A NICE COLD CUP OF WATER!"

"But-"

"NO BUTS! GET TO IT, NUTJOB!" Bowletta opened her jaw, about to spew Fawful with a stream of fire. He nodded.

"Yes, Mistress Bowletta." Fawful ran off.

Bowletta approached Peach, and undid the rope with a single swipe of a single claw.

"Um... what are you doing?" Peach asked, baffled as to why Bowletta was suddenly having a split persona.

"Setting you free, what do you think? I can't have someone else successfully kidnap you using a totally cool evil plan! I'M THE VILLAIN! I'M THE ONE DOING THE KIDNAPPING AROUND HERE! So then-FAWFUL! COME HERE AT ONCE!" Bowletta called. Fawful came running.

"I have the arr-" Fawful gaped at the scene of Bowletta gazing Peach down. "I have fury! The hostage has the escaping!"

He shot out laser balls from his headgear, and Peach jumped over them, pulling out her parasol and floating off the cruiser with a second thought.

"Happy travels!" Peach called as she floated towards one of the flights of stairs. There were four red unlit candles visible through a window. "Now to go find Mario and Luigi! They might be here right now! I gotta intercept them before they give away the Beanstar!"

"I have spitting upon your plan of reunioness, and now the recapturing of you who is like a reckless child trying to escape his lectures of boringness!" Fawful shouted, flying down at Peach and grabbing her before she could make it through the window. He took her back to the cruiser. "Now, I'll be having the returning of you!"

"Oh, no, my dress looks horrible!" Peach groaned, looking at her battered dress from all the falling the jetpack exhaust, and other things. "I hope Mario and Luigi bring me a spare..."

. . .

Mario and Luigi saw a blockade in front of them, and brought it down after finding a Hoo Bean in this small room on a little pillar. Once again, it took three blows (even from an Ultra Hammer) to destroy, and they carried on only after eating and chugging some Syrup to refill their HP and BP to a decent standard.

They bashed up a Bros Block they saw, and high-jumped up on a pillar between two fires, jumping and finding a Hoo Bean there. They jumped back down, and headed west, which was a dead-end. They turned around, and headed back to the first room after going through the newly opened door, this time going east.

Down a staircase of ledges they went, getting two Hoo Beans along the way, along with yet another secret Hoo Bean on a pillar in the southwesternmost part of this area. There were a bunch of logs in what look like a mechanical heater, and Mario couldn't help but light them.

"Seeing those logs there make me want to go camping, now." Mario said as currently unknown to them, the fire that had grown on the logs was heating the Joke Soup Broth, and a warm updraft was created just above the broth. It took a moment for the Bros to realize what had happened when they got back there, but once they did, they had a good idea of what to do.

"Remember what that guy said about warm updrafts and whirlwinds?" Luigi asked.

"Sorta. Was it important?"

"Hopefully." Luigi said as they spin-jumped in the middle of the warm updraft, creating a whirlwind that floated upwards through the metal gate they had landed on above, and stopped there. The Bros tried passing the now two flying Elite Troopeas to get up there again, but unfortunately, this time they were caught.

Mario hurled five fireballs at Luigi, all of which he smashed at one of the two Glurps who had joined in on the battle, the fifth of which Luigi failed to smash straight down, and it hit him, causing him to run to the other side of the battle through going left, and to run into the same Glurp he had pelted fireballs with, which actually worked in defeating it.

"Well, that works." Mario shrugged as one of the flying Elite Troopeas swooped at Luigi and hit him. Mario jumped over the other which came at him.

"For the record, those things you call flying Elite Troopeas are actually called Scaratroopeas." The Bean gazing out the telescope stated, barely loud enough for the Bros to hear from where they were. "It's been killing me hearing you mistake them for something else."

Luigi nodded, and stomped one of the Scaratroopeas. Mario stomped the same one, and that one fell out of the sky. The Glurp snaked up to Luigi in puddle form, and became its normal form to try and bite Luigi, which actually worked for once.

"OW! Those things may be liquid, but they have sharp teeth!"

Mario jumped over the swooping sinister Scaratroopea swiftly, and charged up six fireballs, all of which were perfectly thrown at Luigi and then near-perfectly batted at the Glurp, which defeated it. The Scaratroopea once again tried dive-bombing Mario.

"Seriously, learn some new tricks." Mario scolded the enemy as he actually counterattacked, sending the thing air-tumbling backwards in pain. Luigi quickly finished it while it was mid-tumble, and they headed up the stairs again.

An Ice Snifit shot up a chunk of ice to hopefully strike the Bros and get them in a battle, but the Bros were heading for it anyway, and just as Mario was about to get a first strike, the ice chunk hit Mario on the head, knocking him away.

Mario charged up some more fireballs, and watched them all get batted over his head at the same Ice Snifit, ending in its defeat. Unfortunately, another Ice Snifit and a Glurp was there, the Ice Snifit sending some ground-bound ice at Luigi, hitting him. The Glurp was annoyed it wasn't seen as a threat. And chomped on Luigi, then doing something new.

"Ew, it's dividing!" Luigi gasped as there were now two Glurps, both of them pulling a face that screamed _Who's the threat, now, bubs?_ Luigi quickly shut down their stats by dropping them through successful use of Thunder Bros.

"Hm… ADVANCE! I may very well have an interesting idea for the advanced version of that move! Thundercut Bros! You'll love it, Luigi!" Mario said as he explained how Thundercut Bros worked.

"Oh yeah! Awesome!" Luigi chirped after hearing the idea out. "Let's try that later!"

Luigi batted more airborne fireballs thrown by Mario at the lone Ice Snifit, defeating it. The Glurps chomped on Luigi through ganging up on him, but Mario approached the attackers and gave one an eighth degree burn, and sending the other flying away with a underarm hammer attack.

"You OK, bro?" Mario asked.

"Yeah…" Luigi sniffed as he hammered Mario down and let him drive him into the last Glurp through use of Cyclone Bros before it got a good chance to split again. The hammer blows against the Glurp proved to show it never stood a chance.

Mario and Luigi spin-jumped into the whirlwind, and were taken across the large gap between where the metal gate flooring was and where they last saw Jojora. They headed east when they hit ground again, and saw Jojora behind a wall from the great height they were staring down at him from.

"This is where the real challenge starts. Look, you probably should just give up and go home!" Jojora said, floating off to the east as two Glurps and a Clumph got near the Bros.

Mario shut down a Glurp before it could do anything with use of Fire Bros, and they jumped over a shockwave that ended up defeating the second Glurp as it tried to bite Luigi.

"Wow, someone left friendly fire on." Mario chuckled as they started up Thunder Bros. Luigi proceeded to try and jump on Mario's head, but he did a backflip to where Luigi charged up his thunder earlier, shouting "ADVANCE!", and he hammered Luigi underground as he was about to touch the floor.

Luigi's electrically-charged fist was all that stuck out as he burrowed to where the Clumph's feet where, and shot out like a volcano eruption upper-cutting the Clumph with the sheer power of electricity and thunder, sending the Clumph rolling backwards a fair bit with that, damaging the guy a fair bit and even lowering his attack, as some of his club was chipped off and he just in general looked weaker.

"That looked even better than I thought!" Mario gaped. "Truly worthy of being called Thundercut Bros. That attack drop will definitely be helpful against bosses, and that was on the easiest setting so we could get used to it like all the others, too, so imagine when we ramp it up to 3 like we always with the other Bros Moves! That'll be a massacre!"

Mario watched as a Glurp appeared on the scene, and despatched it with another Fire Bros, a round of five fireballs. Mario and Luigi then slugged the Clumph with a Cyclone Bros, like always, coming back at the Clumph, the target, several times before the attack ended as they spun just like a cyclone.

Mario and Luigi performed Burrow Bros on the Clumph, and a few underground attacks along with the initial strike devastated the absurdly big-boned caveman and defeated it.

Two more Glurps and a Clumph appeared. Mario destroyed a Glurp with a fully-charged burn, and they jumped over another yellow wave of shockwaves, Mario then counterattacking the second Glurp before watching Luigi finish it off with a fully-charged jolt.

Mario hurled some fireballs at Luigi, and like he always did, he batted them down at the Clumph. Mario smashed Luigi into the ground as he continued to hold his fully-charged jolt in his hands. He shot back out underneath the Clumph, sending the absurdly big-boned caveman rolling a bit as its club was chipped off a fair bit.

Mario hurled some more fireballs to Luigi which he smashed straight down the battlefield at the Clumph, and rather than the attack defeating the big-boned caveman, the patch of hair on his head burned up and disappeared.

"Hey, I made the guy bald!" Mario shouted.

"Ack, that's rough for him." Luigi winced. The Clumph looked ashamed, his eyes bulging as he ran away, freaked out that his hair disappeared. "But we still won the battle. That's nice."

There was a gate with a button high up and a block that would activate something behind a gate. Mario sent Luigi under it, and he popped out, hitting the block but being unable to hammer the switch. When he hit the switch, a door on Mario's side opened.

"Huh. It looks like we'll be apart for a while. You can handle yourself, right, Luigi?" Mario asked.

"I sure hope so, bro." Luigi said, and he followed Jojora east, up several flights of stairs outside, back inside and south into a room with a ton of enemies. He yelped, and quickly dodged them all as he got a Super Nut and fled to the room to the west, where there were Glurps and only Glurps rather than both Glurps and Ice Snifits.

"So many… enemies!" Luigi cried.

. . .

Popple was right by the revolving doors of the yellow bank. He had his tools ready, a flamethrower fuelled by Fire Flowers shipped and stolen from the deep Jade Jungle, and his own wits, both of which would keep him alive if he met a life-threatening encounter. Popple ran into the revolving doors and fell flat on his face, the bank proving to be a mirage. Popple's bones grew heavy and tough to force up, and the thief could no longer move as he drifted off into unconsciousness.

. . .

Mario headed up some flights of stairs, outside, after going through the door Luigi opened for him, and retrieved an Ultra Mushroom and a Hoo Bean before two Glurps and two Ice Snifits attacked him.

He destroyed one of the Glurps with one burn, and was hit by a snowball shot out by both Ice Snifits. He hammered away the Glurp when it tried to try something, and destroyed an Ice Snifit in one burn, too.

"Hm, if this is just going to be me one-shotting all of these guys, I'll be perfectly fine." Mario assured himself. He jumped over the other Snifit's snowball shot, and was hit by a gas cloud the Glurp shot at him. It was painful and stinky, so Mario ate a Super Mushroom to avoid getting taken down by the remaining two enemies.

The Ice Snifit performed a lob shot with a chunk of ice, and watched it hit the floor and slide towards Mario, who degraded it to pieces with a single strike. He hammered back a Glurp, and kept the heat on it, literally, burning the guy and defeating it. Mario hammered an incoming ground-bound ice chunk that was lobbed near him in the nick of time, and then burned the Ice Snifit into dust.

. . .

. . .

Luigi headed north before the Glurps blocked him in, and there was a sign.

"Dear Mustachioed Gentlemen: The two block here are called Simu-blocks. If both of these blocks are struck simultaneously, for your information, that being at the same time, something will occur…" Luigi read aloud.

"So how about we try that, bro?"

Luigi jumped, yelping.

"What? I'm on the other side of this wall, you know. There's this gate thing blocking me from carrying on to the southwest." Mario explained. "Oh, and are you doing OK?"

"I'm doing fine, I just didn't realize there was stuff behind that wall. Anyway, could you throw me a Mushroom and some Super Syrup in case something bad happens? I want to be in top shape if I'm on my own."

Mario chucked over a Mushroom and a jar of Super Syrup which Luigi caught and used, satisfied. Mario finally drank his Hoohoo Blend he had with him for days, and drank a jar of Super Syrup, too.

"So, on the count of three. One, two, THREE!" Mario and Luigi bashed the blocks simultaneously, and this was proved as the gate on Mario's side lowered. "Thanks, Luigi. I'll be off, then."

Luigi heard Mario's footsteps trail off as he went southwest. He sighed, now on his own again, and headed back in the room with all the Glurps, dodging them somehow and making it to the room to the west. He walked past a gate in the next room.

"Hey! Get back to that gate!"

Luigi scampered back to the gate, and saw Mario staring at him.

"Well, that was a short break-up." Mario said on the other side as he went over to bash a block that made a barrel drop below where a high button was on Luigi's side. "So I guess we're not entirely separated, just broken up but still nearby, just with things keeping us away from proper contact."

"Apparently."

"So, something dropped on your side when I hit that block. What was it?"

"A barrel. I'll go hit the button above it using that barrel, now." Luigi did as he said, and the door behind Mario opened.

"OK, thanks." Mario called as he went outside to the north. Luigi found there was a door on his side that did the same thing; take him outside to the north. He found Mario twiddling his fingers while waiting for Luigi, sitting under a Simu-block on the far-out bridge. "About time. I was bored to death out here!"

Luigi stood under the Simu-block on his side, and Jojora floated down, with a blue magic wand in her used-to-be-empty hand this time. The other still had that little snowman toy in it.

"Hrmm… Wow. If you've come all the way here, you obviously don't give up easily. Cool." Jojora said. She shot down a yellow oval that seemed to look really trippy. "So this is a present from me to you… and if you get 30 points in 25 seconds or less through jumping and hitting the blocks that come out of this yellow block generator, I'll open this door for you. Cool? Good."

She floated away, as far as the Bros knew.

. . .

Needless to say, the Bros managed 30 points in 25 seconds, and successfully did it with barely under a second of time left. The doors opened. Mario jumped up some metal ledges, and climbed up a ton of stairs, reaching the top and finding four candles in each corner of some metal flooring. Mario lit all four, and a block above Luigi's head moved to the left.

. . .

Luigi read a sign that was near a weird yellow platform.

"Dear Mustachioed Gentlemen: The yellow floor here can be raised by striking it from below. If you use the sudden lift… Figure it out yourselves!" Luigi read aloud.

"Hey, bro, you should try that. Hit this so I can get up there." Mario said, the source of his voice nearly directly above Luigi. Luigi hit the yellow floor, and it bumped upwards, flinging Mario up and he smashed his head on a block full of coins which ended his ascent, and he landed on the higher floor.

Mario walked onwards, and in the next room, dodged the enemies as he got an Ultra Mushroom and two Hoo Beans from the blocks there. He made his escape to the southeast, where he found a Simu-block near a gate. He bashed it just for the heck of it, and the gate near him went down.

"Luigi?"

"Mario?"

"Oh, no wonder this gate went down."

"Huh, talk about timing. Well, I'm looking for a barrel to block this thing with. It shot some fire at me, and it hurt!" Luigi said as Mario strolled into the next room, still able to hear Luigi's voice at the same degree of volume. "You know I'm walking south. Are you doing the same?"

"Yeah." Mario said, hitting a block once he couldn't go any further thanks to a gate.

"Yah! A barrel fell on my head!" Luigi cried, stumbling about. "Wait, this is just what I needed. Thanks!"

"Huh, sorry about that. I didn't know the block did that. I just hit it out of boredom."

Luigi walked back to the face, and stood on the switch that activated it. The barrel blocked off the fire blast and it returned to sender.

"I think stuff happened, so I'm heading back." Luigi said. Mario did the same, and in the end, they found each other again due to green platforms connecting the two bridges where they last met Jojora. "BRO!"

Luigi tackled Mario in a hug, relieved to not be on his own again.

"Nice to see you too…" Mario said, patting his bro on the back.


	42. The End of the Jokes

**This chapter has been edited to answer a plot-hole involving future events that had not been filled as suggested. Kudos to Mike in the reviews for the idea of that.**

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Mario and Luigi - A Superstar Story

Chapter 42: The End of the Jokes

Mario and Luigi headed back down Mario's side, and upon reaching some high floor, they high-jumped up it, and headed to the north, now able to with the extra jump power. They headed up a staircase, only for a pair of Scaratroopeas to attack the Bros, along with two Glurps.

Mario stomped one of the Scaratroopeas out of existence, and Mario was hit by a gas cloud spat out by a Glurp. He hammered away the other, and watched as Luigi was hit, by the swooping Scaratroopea, helpless to avoid the attack.

Mario and Luigi performed Cyclone Bros, hammering up one of the Glurps and mowing it down and out of existence, too, doing the same with the other Glurp through use of Fire Bros. The lone Scaratroopea successfully dive-bombed Mario, only to get stomped by both Bros and defeated.

_Mario levelled up to Level 28! Mario got an extra +5DEF!_

Another Scaratroopea attacked them at the top of the next staircase, and two Clumphs joined in.

"Ugh, the worst two enemies here, and we have to face them both at once." Mario groaned, taking down the Scaratroopea from the skies and degrading it into just a measly Elite Troopea. They hopped over some shockwaves, and watched the Troopea heal itself. Mario and Luigi came at one of the Clumphs with Cyclone Bros, hitting the same guy four times.

Mario finished off the Elite Troopea before it made the battle any harder, and jumped over some more shockwaves.

"OK, the absurdly big-boned cavemen aren't exactly threatening any more. Just pelt them with our strongest moves and they'll go down. But that Elite Troopea was the problem here." Mario stated as Luigi lowered the Clumphs' defences, then following by burning one of them with Fire Bros.

The first Clumph came at them with a large, slow, purple shockwave which clipped Mario and floored him, and the second one knocked Mario out while he couldn't do anything about it. Luigi himself was floored, too. He got up, yelped at his defeated bro, and gave him a 1-UP Mushroom. A five-fireball Fire Bros was enough to defeat one of the Clumphs before they made another move.

The lone Clumph just stood there, slightly intimidated at the way Mario was staring him down. Mario and Luigi did Cyclone Bros, and that weakened the Clumph further. Mario continued to eyeball the Clumph, and it stood there, starting to sweat. One last Fire Bros finished that absurdly big-boned caveman off.

_Luigi levelled up to Level 28! Luigi got an extra +5BP!_

Mario and Luigi both chugged two jars of Syrup, and then downed a Super Mushroom each. They felt much better after that, and continued climbing up, passing the room with four lit candles and jumping up a ledge and going back outside to the east, climbing down several flights of stairs, then meeting Jojora, who was standing right there in front of them.

"Oh! Man! Cut it out! You're the most stubborn people I know! No girls would ever like you!" Jojora shouted. Mario rolled his eyes as she flew off to the east. They high-jumped up some ledges to dodge a Glurp, dropped down, only to get ambushed by other things.

. . .

Popple awoke in what he thought was a pink bed in some kind of underground ruins. A pink dinosaur with a snout that ended with a large circular hole walked into the room.

"Oh, my sweet, injured darling! You're awake!" she cried tears of joy for a brief moment.

"Holy Bob-ombs, what the heck are you and how did I wake up here?!" Popple cried in fear when he sat up, recoiling at the sheer image of what he found to be a female monstrosity.

"You can call me Birdo, my dear. You see, I found you unconscious in the valley above, and naturally, out of my beautiful kindness, took you in. I had to perform mouth to mouth in order to get the sand you had got in your mouth in that state out, then nursed you back to health in this safe underground shelter."

Popple's eyes bulged out, and he turned blue, now feeling a mighty urge to puke.

"Oh, do you have something in your mouth again? Should I suck it out again, darling?"

"Stop calling me darling! And quit being so creepy!" Popple barked.

"Actually... with how it's slaving away for my sake..." Popple thought. "...maybe this could be my new Rookie if I play my cards right... she COULD be useful seeing as she got me back to health and gave me a place to stay however creepy she acts..."

. . .

Two Scaratroopeas and two Clumphs had attacked the Bros. A single good throw with Swing Bros managed to fell a Scaratroopea in one strike. They jumped over both rounds of shockwaves for Luigi to then get swooped by the lone Scaratroopea. Luigi lowered the Clumphs defences with Thunder Bros, and another Swing Bros finished off the other Scaratroopea.

After jumping over two more waves of shockwaves, they struck one Clumph four times with Cyclone Bros, then hit that same one five times in the face with fireballs from Fire Bros. More shockwaves were jumped over, and they struck one Clumph twice with Cyclone Bros, defeating it, and Mario drove towards the other Clumph, striking it twice with what spin juice he had left.

They then pelted that Clumph with five fireballs from Fire Bros like they did with the last, and they jumped over some purple shockwaves again. One more four-hit Cyclone Bros did the job, and they proceeded to smash down the blockade to the left of another Joke Soup Broth, entering and getting a Hoo Bean and an Ultra Mushroom. They dodged the same Glurp from earlier after retracing their steps from the dead-end, and headed to the southeast path.

They jumped down, dodging all the enemies, and headed west. Here, there was another place for them to heat up some logs. Mario did so.

"Still makes me want to go camping…" Mario said.

"But isn't camping dangerous?"

"If you're unprepared, maybe. But come on, you'll be safe. You'd be with me, of course." Mario said. "And when we're together, does anything bad actually happen to us that actually harms us?"

"Sometimes."

"Well, let's go see that warm updraft. We need to get some whirlwinds up again." Mario said as they jumped up the ledges, dodging the enemies to get caught just as they were about to get through without any battles.

Two Scaratroopeas and two Glurps. Mario stomped the Scaratroopea, de-winging it. Luigi was chomped on by a Glurp, Mario was hit by a gas cloud, followed by a Scaratroopea. The Elite Troopea healed itself, to get defeated by Luigi's kick. Mario stomped the Scaratroopea down the food chain, and it became an Elite Troopea, too.

Mario was chomped on, and then jumped over a gas cloud. The Elite healed. Luigi finished off the Elite Troopea, and smashed four fireballs sent by Mario down at a Glurp and defeated it. Mario was hit by a gas cloud, and defeated the second Glurp with Cyclone Bros.

Mario ate a Super Mushroom, Luigi a Mushroom, and they both chugged a jar of Syrup before carrying on back to the room with the broth. They stood on the metal flooring above the boiling broth, and spin-jumped. A whirlwind was created, and it floated upwards, all the way to the middle of four lit candles, the Bros chasing it all the way up by taking the stairs.

Back where the candles and the whirlwind was, Mario filled up on water from a little drinking spot in the same room, and faced the whirlwind. Luigi hammered him, water came shooting into the whirlwind, and it broke into four droplets, each one extinguishing a candle in a clockwise fashion. The door nearby opened, and the Bros climbed up further.

There was a barrel. They ignored it, and climbed up some ledges. They got an Ultra Mushroom, then proceeded to head back to an activation block which formed a bridge of yellow flooring across. Mario quickly burned Luigi, grabbed him, and was dragged across the bridge in the nick of time.

"I think we've finally made it to the top…" Mario sighed in relief. There was a tea party going on.

"I think we're in time for tea." Luigi pointed at Jojora.

"Welcome!"

. . .

Birdo had brought the bedridden thief some omlette she had fried through... questionable means.

"I brought you some food, darling! I thought you'd need to regain your strength, so I whipped up some omlette!" Birdo chirped, holding a plate of the said food stuff in her left hand as she walked towards Popple.

"How'd you get an egg in the middle of a valley? You don't find eggs here, see?" Popple asked.

"I have my ways, dear. Now eat up!" Birdo urged.


	43. Double-Double-Double-Double Crossing

**Due to unfortunate circumstances, I cannot continue this story, and I've chosen to discontinue it. It's just... I'm not getting enough favourites, followers or reviews, and all in all, the story isn't working out for me, the way I wanted it to. It's just all so disheartening, especially the way I've put my heart and soul into this, so I plan to remove this story from the website in 24 hours because I don't want unfinished work lying around. Ciao.**

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**April Fools! :P**

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_"I think we've finally made it to the top…" Mario sighed in relief. There was a tea party going on._

_"I think we're in time for tea." Luigi pointed at Jojora._

_"Welcome!" _

Mario and Luigi - A Superstar Story

Chapter 43: Double-Double-Double-Double Crossing

"You're the first people ever to climb all the way up here!" Jojora exclaimed. "…Cool."

"Well, we have climbed a mountain in the past, so we're used to it." Mario shrugged.

"You're pretty darn determined! Let me reward you with a little something, OK?"

"Uh…" Luigi was a bit stunned by the sudden kindness.

"Don't just stand there! Have a seat and relax for a bit." Jojora urged. Mario and Luigi looked each other, shrugged and took a seat. They chugged some syrup, ate some mushrooms, slurped some lemonade, blew their noses and had a nice good chat.

"I'm inviting one of my pals over today. They're all good people, but I'm only inviting one today. Who would you like to invite?" Jojora asked. "There's Chucklissa, she has a GREAT sense of humour, Oholina, her hair looks just _so fabulous_, Hoohoolia, she's such a tomboy, and Teeheena, who's your average everyday girl."

"Uh, Hoohoolia?" Mario wasn't sure at all.

"Oh, man! You two have really good taste! Hoohoolia! C'mon! Introduce yourself!"

Hoohoolia crashed in out of nowhere, her hair flying upwards for a moment before dropping down again. She had a white body, and pale skin. Her mouth looked stitched, and her eyes lacked colour. They were just two black circles with white in them. She had a red ribbon tied behind her blonde hair. She stood like some kind of gorilla.

"I'm Hoohoolia! GAH HAH!" she shouted, and then started flicking her hair and jerking her head sideways. "Are you done working for the day Then please sit back and relax! Gah hah HAHHH!"

"Well done! Now take good care of our honourable guests!" Jojora smiled as Mario and Luigi stumbled to their feet.

Mario sent five fireballs down at Jojora, and then counterattacked her when she approached him by smashing away her wand.

"Eeek! Uncool! You creep!" Jojora cried as you floated off to find her wand. Hoohoolia winked at Luigi, making him shudder and get run over by a large snowball Hoohoolia was inside. The Bros came at Hoohoolia with Cyclone Bros, then Mario burned her.

"Gah! That mustache guy… does he like me?" Hoohoolia wondered.

"Uh-"

"She means you, Luigi." Mario said quickly, followed by Hoohoolia suddenly became a redhead.

"NOW he will! Gah HAH!" Hoohoolia cackled.

"Red's always been your colour, Mario." Luigi redirected. "She's clearly after you. Besides, fire probably heals her, so she's perfect for you."

Mario sighed, and they just did Cyclone Bros, hitting three times. They then performed Fire Bros, which, like Luigi said, healed her.

"Hm… even if that didn't work the way we wanted, ADVANCE!" Mario chirped. He explained Fire Bros Advance, and Luigi nodded. "Now, we'll test it out later."

Jojora came floating back with her wand, sniffling a bit. Hoohoolia ran towards Mario. He yelped, and jump-kicked her in the face before she could grab him.

"NOT HAPPENING!" Mario shouted, knowing what he had just escaped. "No way, no how."

They Cyclone Bros'ed Jojora, getting in three hits, then they Burrow Bros'ed her, getting in many, at least eight repetitive hits. Luigi smacked away Jojora's wand when she tried her attack again. She cried out, slapping Luigi's face and floating off to hunt down her lost wand.

Hoohoolia winked at Mario, and ran away to jump in a snowball to go run Mario over, except the plumber just smashed the large snowball to pieces, sending Hoohoolia on the floor and out of her attack.

Luigi charged up some thunder, and jumped to where Mario was, him side-stepping backwards and hammering Luigi underground, where he dug close to Hoohoolia, and thundercut her in the face, lowering her attack. Mario then set Luigi back underground with Burrow Bros, and struck Hoohoolia several times. She then changed her hairstyle back to blonde.

"Gah! That mustache guy… does he like me?" Hoohoolia wondered. Luigi sweat-dropped. Mario sighed in relief, only for her to become a redhead again. "NOW he will! Gah HAH!"

"Argh, I thought she was going for you now." Mario groaned.

"Thank goodness, I don't want to have to deal with her." Luigi sighed as they did Cyclone Bros, hitting Hoohoolia twice. Mario then burned her, regretting it as she was healed again, and then came at him with a snowball which he broke again. They then did another Cyclone Bros, hitting her thrice this time.

Mario started up Swing Bros, but just as he was about to send Luigi flying at Hoohoolia, she winked creepily, and Mario lost his focus, Luigi clonking her in the face like a weakly thrown teddy bear. He bounced back to Mario. Hoohoolia ran at Mario, and the plumber quickly shut down any ideas Hoohoolia was getting by stomping her in the hair.

"Like I said, this is NOT going to work." Mario groaned. "Go find someone from this kingdom to glomp, if you don't mind."

Luigi jolted Hoohoolia, and Mario stomped her in the face again. Jojora returned, and Hoohoolia turned her hairstyle back to a blonde one. Mario hammered away Hoohoolia in a snowball, and kicked her away for the third time when she tried to do stuff with him.

The Bros came at Jojora four times with Cyclone Bros, then Luigi just realized something.

"I got it! ADVANCE!" Luigi cheered, explaining an idea he had for Cyclone Bros Advance. "Got it? Good, we'll try it out later."

Mario and Luigi once again did Burrow Bros, and Mario was then hit by a glacier formed by Jojora's wand, her attack finally working. Hoohoolia got into another snowball, and ran over Mario. Luigi came at Jojora with Cyclone Bros, hitting her three times, and Mario burned Jojora, and she then came at Luigi, who tried smashing her wand away, but Jojora pulled it out of range.

Mario then tried to hammer her while she pulled back, but Jojora then pulled up a barrier blocking Mario from intervening, and she thus shot a glacier up out of the ground with her wand, Luigi get knocked away by it and taking damage. Hoohoolia still tried to get some time with Mario, but he just kicked her away.

"You're blonde now! AKA yellow! Electricity can be yellow and my bro uses that stuff, so go for Luigi!" Mario shouted as his feet connected against her face.

"No thanks…"

Hoohoolia still had her heart set on getting Mario. Another Cyclone Bros hit Jojora twice.

"Seriously, every single time we damage her, it's only 1 damage! What's your defence?!" Mario asked.

"Nine-hundred and ninety-nine." Jojora said smugly as they kept knocking her back up and down with Burrow Bros about five times. "Not to mention I have a fair bit of health, too."

"So it looks like getting in as many hits as possible is the key here. Burrow and Cyclone Bros are a key Bros Moves to use." Mario stated to Luigi, getting hit by a glacier from below thanks to him not paying attention to Jojora. She giggled.

"Gah! That mustache guy… does he like me?" Hoohoolia changed her hair to the redhead again. "NOW he will! Gah HAH!"

"It's always me…" Mario groaned as they hit Jojora four times with Cyclone Bros, followed by somewhere around five times with Burrow Bros. Jojora glaciered Mario again, and he then broke Hoohoolia's snowball again. Another one hit from Cyclone Bros knocked out Jojora, and they hit Hoohoolia the next time.

They started up Burrow Bros on Hoohoolia, sending her up three times excluding the initial blow, and Hoohoolia hit the ground, and she fell backwards, defeating her as she exploded, her last move being her toss of a Sledge Heart to Mario. Luigi picked up some Max Nuts near where she finally faded away, leaving quite a few coins behind.

_Mario levelled up to Level 29! Mario got an extra +4HP!_

_Luigi levelled up to Level 29! Luigi got an extra +4HP!_

"EHH! Play time's over for the day! Over! Over! Over! Over! Over! Over! Over! OVER! OVER!" Jojora cried running off to the west in a fury of sadness, stopping to say one last word. "JERKS!"

"Well, that just happened." Mario said as he noticed two spots for fires behind them. He lit up those two spots, and the pattern of three fires, space, three fires was completed, and the door to the east opened, which led them to Fawful.

"HEY!" Mario called.

"So! The fink-rats come at last! Now is the time when you hand over the Beanstar, you little men! Send the Beanstar up to the top of this pedestal, and be hasty!"

Mario and Luigi ran up to a gap in the walls, to find there was a gate there.

"You know what to do, right?" Mario asked. "This needs to work."

"Yeah."

Mario hammered Luigi underground, and he dug under the gate and popped out on the other side, approaching Fawful.

"Send the Beanstar up here!" Fawful ordered.

Luigi jumped on the pedestal, and held up the (fake) Beanstar. Fawful shot him with a blast, sending him into the wall and he lay there as Fawful chortled.

"Oh! Oh, I am laughing at you! I can see through your pathetic designs, you ugly thing! That was a FAKE Beanstar!" Fawful floated to the ground near Luigi. "Now you give me the real one!"

"Wasn't wise, taking the real one with us…" Mario muttered to himself as Fawful extracted the Beanstar from the suitcase Luigi now had with his vacuum helmet. "Should've left it at the castle."

"Har! You idiots of stupidity!" Fawful chortled as he flew off to the east.

Luigi didn't bother closing the suitcase, and instead went north to find a switch on a pedestal in a room there. The gate went down, and the Bros conversed with each other.

"Fawful took the Beanstar!" Luigi jumped up and down, waving his arms. "And we didn't get Peach back!"

"Hm… wait, I got it!" Mario cheered, pulling out the spare dress from the suitcase. "We'll do this…

. . .

Fawful continued to fly east, all the way to a large circle of octagon-shaped piece of ground sticking out from Joke's End. He finally stopped.

"O Great Bowletta! At last we have the Beanstar! I am joyful!"

Bowletta flew down with Peach in reach, them both in the Clown Car.

"YOU HAVE DONE WELL… NUTJOB!" Bowletta shouted, Fawful grinned, but on the inside he just looked worried. "Seeing through those wretched Mario Bros' fake Beanstar ruse and ruining their plan was brilliant!"

Mario walked along, and met eye to eye with Fawful, Bowletta and Peach, who was still in her dirty dress.

"Mariooo!" Peach cried.

"Oh, wow, you DID need a spare!" Mario chuckled.

"What's that? Do you need something? Or are you finally admitting defeat?"

"Well, we simply want you to return Peach." Mario said.

"Are you trying to haggle me back?" Peach asked, confused.

"Huh? What? What are you saying? Why the we? You want us to return Peachy?"

"Peachy? That sounds like something Bowser would say…"

"Oh, I have to laugh! We would never release Peach to scheming liars like you two!" Bowletta cackled at Mario, infuriating him. "Eeyah ha ha!"

"You reap the beans you sow, fools! Now, meet your doom!" Bowletta then slowed down. It paused when Mario started chuckling and Peach walked in. "S-Something's wrong here…"

"T-Two princesses?!" Bowletta gasped. Peach was speechless, and Fawful had fury. "Wha-what is this?!"

"Tee hee hee hee…" the second Peach giggled, her voice sounding a bit strained, but in good condition. "The Princess Peach you kidnapped… is an impostor!"

"That Peach is a spy!" Mario exclaimed, pointing at the first Peach.

"I'm a spy?!" Peach gasped. "Why was I not told of this!"

"I have the shock!" Fawful gasped. "These mustaches have the sneakiness of a thousand ninjas! I have none of the pleasing…"

"We expected this to happen, so we prepared an impostor…" the second Peach explained. "You fell RIGHT into our trap! And there's nothing you can do about it!"

"But we still want our spy back. She's a very worthy ally if she could keep up such a could impression of Peach for so long." Mario added.

"No! It can't be!" Bowletta paused, freezing up, then continued. "YOU CURSED MARIO BROS! HOW DARE YOU FOOL ME!"

"Tee hee hee hee…" the second Peach giggled. "Come, Mario, let us return!"

"W-wait!" Bowletta cried, causing Mario and Peach to stop. "FORGET THIS CHEAP, DIRTY KNOCKOFF OF A FAKE, I WANT THE REAL DEAL! GIMMIE GIMMIE GIMMIE!"

"I have the double-crossing of the third degree!" Fawful shouted, zapping Mario with a quick blast. The second Peach gasped, much like how the first one was the whole time. She made a break for it.

"LET'S GET KIDNAPPING, NUTJOB!" Bowletta ordered, chasing after Peach after Bowletta hurled the first Peach out of the Clown Car. Mario was still getting shocked as Bowletta and Fawful chased Peach back and forth through this general area.

"Heeeelllp!" the second Peach cried as she was taken away by Bowletta and Fawful into the skies. The shock wore off Mario, and he approached the first Peach who was sprawled out across the floor to see if she was OK.

Peach got up, and Mario jumped in relief.

"Oh, Mario! Thank you! That was brilliant! I always knew you'd come." She pecked Mario on the cheek, and all was good down at Joke's End.

"But, I must ask, who was the other me, and how did they get one of my dresses?" Peach asked.

"You'll see."

. . .

**Unidentified Location**

"Eeyah ha ha ha! At last, we have both Peachy and the Beanstar!" Bowletta cackled, freezing up, then grinning.

"I still have fury over that fake Princess Peach… to think, they have had the spying on us for all this time? It gives me rage like thousands of angry sunburns over-tanning the hideous body of a little man of foolishness who is lacking the sunscreen!"

Peach had her hands over her face, possibly ashamed to be caught.

"Hmph! They're a slick bunch, huh?" Bowletta said, then pointing at Peach. "And you, Princess Peach… You're a sly one, too! Eeyah ha ha ha!"

Peach looked content with herself now.

"By the way, Princess…" Bowletta noticed, freezing up. "Why are you covering your mouth with your hands? Show all of your beautiful face, will ya, Peachy?"

"Do you hide something? Are you having the hiding of things that will be having the hindering of us?" Fawful asked as they both approached Peach, stepping off the metal half and on to the wooden half, and the shock returned, her body scraping backwards on the wood.

Peach shook her head slowly. Bowletta jumped, which was a very surprising movement for someone of their stature.

"ACK! BEHIND YOU!" Bowletta shouted, pointing. "A HUMONGOUS COCKROACH!"

Peach yelped, hands raised and jumping as she spun around, "her" mustache flailing out from beneath her nose like it was doing a stretch. There was no cockroach. "She" then realized what had happened, and sat down, face in dress, silently awaiting doom.

"Nutjob…" Bowletta trailed. "Did you see that?"

"Yes." Fawful said. "Mustache."

"Fa-Nu-Minion." Bowletta said, twitching a fair bit. "…Fire at will."

Fawful blasted the hair of Peach, and it was terminated, revealing a green cap.

"GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Bowletta exclaimed at the top if its lungs. "THIS PEACH IS LUIGI?! HOW DID YOU TRICK US ALL THIS TIME?!"

"A MUSTACHE was and is having the spying on us! I have fury!" Fawful shouted, chasing Luigi around the room, trying to blast him as Bowletta seethed heavily with rage.

Luigi tripped over, and his lower dress fell off. He jumped over a blast, and ran behind a seething Bowletta, into the room to the east. He crossed a little metal bridge, and hit a familiar block, which lowered a crane (that luckily had cargo) and it dropped some tied cargo.

Bowletta and Fawful were a moment too late, and they raged.

"GAHHHHHHHH!" Bowletta shouted.

"I have fury!" Fawful shouted. Luigi got behind a girder in the ground, and changed back into his full clothes. He put the dress away, it still in pretty good condition, and stuck his tongue out at Fawful and Bowletta. Bowletta started punching the cargo, trying to break through it, but it hurt their hand pretty badly.

"What's even in these boxes? Metal boxes? Rocks? Steel? ARGH! RAGE! KHAAAAAN!" Bowletta raged, stamping the ground.

"I have the realization!" Fawful realized, flying over the cargo thanks to his headgear. "I will be having the chasing of this mustache of sneakiness!"

"THE CLOWN CAR'S PAST THE CARGO, TOO! ARGH! RAGE! KHAAAAAN!" Bowletta raged further. "AND IT'S CLAW SENSITIVE!"

Luigi hastily powered up some electric balls in two of three turned off generators when he heard all those shouts, and a block appeared, giving Luigi five Hoo Beans. Fawful came flying, and he was off downstairs.

Luigi climbed up some boxes and got a Super Mushroom from a block, and powered up two generators, and the eventual third generator which made a block appear. He bashed five more Hoo Beans out of it, and heard Fawful's headgear. He made a break for it, slipping away to the northwest and down the stairs without being seen this time by Fawful.

Luigi found some more blocks, getting a Super Nut, an Ultra and Super Mushroom, then hurried west, getting a lead on Fawful. He powered up a nearby generator, then another behind a fallen girder, and then a third in a corner behind another fallen girder.

"I remember… this was where we took our original passport pictures on the Koopa Cruiser before we were ambushed…" Luigi trailed as he got five more Hoo Beans before heading west into the room with the Beanstar.

"I have the chasing!" Fawful called from the room to the east. Luigi quickly powered up the de-generator, which turned off the barrier protecting the Beanstar. Luigi lunged at it, opened a door to the west as Fawful flew into the room. "I have fury! The mustache is both greedy and sneaky!"

Fawful tried blasting Luigi, but he spun and deflected the blast unintentionally and that knocked out Fawful, and Luigi was now wearing a custom-made parachute. He jumped out into the wild blue as Bowletta finally caught up.

"GRAAAAAACK!" Bowletta raged even further. "KHAAAAAAN! How could this happen not only once, but twice?!"

"They have the repetition of the most annoying variety…" Fawful groaned. "We chase them now?"

"…No!" Bowletta grinned after twitching. "Instead, we go to the Mushroom Kingdom!"

"M-Mushroom Kingdom?!" Fawful turned blue.

"I think it's time to go on vacation, but with my house!" Bowletta grinned. "Those Mario Bros will never see it coming…"

"I have all of the worrying…" Fawful looked fearful.

* * *

**Fawful and Bowletta were planning to double-cross Mario and Luigi with that Beanstar for Peach deal (X2), then Mario and Luigi tried to double-cross Fawful with the fake Beanstar (X4).**

**But Fawful had double-crossed them by fleeing with the real Beanstar especially because he was double-crossed, and this one was also partly for the capture of Luigi in a hasty effort to right their wrong so it only hits X32, I don't have to add another "Double-" and the title actually fits, because it sorta barely did here (X8). :P**

**The Bros then double-cross Bowletta with the fake Peach (X16), and that's it for this chapter, I think. Double-crossing of the fourth degree.**

**You could call it double-double-double-double crossing, or quadruple-double-double crossing, or quadruple-quadruple crossing, over octuple-double crossing . Either way, there was double-crossing of a high degree, that's for sure. **

**Also, this chapter had one of the greatest moments in this game, if you didn't notice. And I may have just passed the 100K mark on this story at this moment. I'm not sure yet, but I'm very likely to h ave by now, so I'll go and have some chortles while slurping a nice cup of Chuckola Cola. ^^**


	44. The Final Preparations

**This chapter has been edited to answer a plot-hole involving events that had not been filled as suggested. Kudos to Mike in the reviews for the idea of that.**

* * *

Mario and Luigi - A Superstar Story

Chapter 44: The Final Preparations

Luigi was falling through the air, and he triggered his parachute, it working just fine and Peach's dress being the body of it.

"Let's hope Peach doesn't see this…" Luigi hoped. "She'll kill me if she sees the way I've been using her dress. Toadsworth, too."

"Excellent work, Mario Bro!" Prince Peasley praised, flying in on that floating blue pillow of his. "Is the Beanstar safe?"

"Got it right here…" Luigi did a spin, and the Beanstar flew out of one of his pockets. Prince Peasley positioned himself to catch it, and did just that. A little bird then came along and cut the string that kept Peach's dress stretched out, and the dress flew away, leaving only a single string. Luigi cried out, and Prince Peasley attempted to catch him.

Needless to say, Luigi was fairly heavy, and he was knocked flying off his pillow and Luigi plummeted to the ground.

**Luigi's Predicted Landing Site**

Mario had his binoculars out, and was gazing up at the sky. Peach was looking up, as well as Toadsworth who was pacing back and forth, all three of them anticipating Luigi to land here.

"I wonder if Master Luigi will land here in splendid fashion…"

"Oh, I just hope he can escape safely…"

"Hey! Luigi!" Mario pointed at Luigi who was falling out of the sky.

"Ah! Could that be him?" Toadsworth gasped.

"And look, he used Peach's dress as a parachute! I see it floating way above him!"

"He what?!" Peach burst into laughter. "Now that's crafty!"

"I DARESAY HE DID JUST THAT! HAVE AT HIM! USING THE PRINCESS' DRESS AS A PARACHUTE?! DISPICABLE!" Toadsworth was furious as Luigi fell headfirst into the sand a fair bit to the west, in a secluded area from the one the trio were in, blocked off by cactus and rocks. His legs wiggled like a worm. The trio just stared silently.

Prince Peasley came parachuting into the scene using a large napkin with the Beanbean Kingdom logo on it. He landed in a near-perfect fashion.

"Oh… Prince Peasley…" Toadsworth said, realizing who it was who landed behind them.

"Hey!" Mario greeted.

"Heh heh heh heh heh heh!" Peasley chuckled after a good blinding of the surrounding area. "What a perfect landing! And the Beanstar made the trip just fine!"

Prince Peasley pulled out the Beanstar Luigi had chucked him earlier in the skies. Mario grinned, glad the plan worked. Peach and Toadsworth looked rather pleased, too.

"Say… Where's Luigi?" Peasley asked.

"He seems to be… um, struggling somewhat over there…" Peach trailed, unsure of what to do. They all gazed back at Luigi, who then sank into the sand, now out of view. An activation block went flying out of the sand after a brief period, and Prince Peasley burst into laughter.

"Wah hah hah hah hah! Look at Luigi! Always showing off his Luigi dunk! Honestly!" Prince Peasley guffawed. "Mario! I'll leave his welfare up to you! You can handle it. I must return and move the Beanstar to a safer place!"

"OK!" Mario jumped.

"I will see you later!" Prince Peasley trudged off to the east after blinding the area again.

"Master Mario… I must say… being here is unhealthy for the princess as well." Toadsworth shuddered as just being here gave him bad memories from the escort mishap earlier. "We shall return to the castle ahead of you."

"OK!" Mario jumped.

"Please take care of Luigi…" Peach reminded.

"OK!" Mario jumped.

"Shall we go, Princess?"

Peach nodded, and she and Toadsworth walked a bit to the east before a Gritty Goomba got in the way and attempted an ambush. Mario yelped from over where he was when she heard Peach yelp, startled, and looked. Peach smashed it out of the Beanbean Kingdom, causing Toadsworth to jump and her to giggle at such a significant reaction.

"Great galloping Goombas! I must take you golfing when we return to the Mushroom Kingdom! What kind of things have you been through, Princess?!"

"Oh, I've gone golfing with Mario and Luigi and the others in the past. Let's just say I've picked up a few skills, not to mention I've been in other physical, um, social activities." Peach explained as they walked off. The rest of the conversation was incoherent to Mario's ears.

He trudged off to the northwest, and smashed a black rock blocking a path leading north. He walked through the sands to the west, and in the far west getting a 1-UP Mushroom, a Super Mushroom, and some coins. He back headed east and went south down the path slightly to the west of where he entered this section, then bashing the activation block that had shot up out of the ground for no apparent reason.

He heard something move behind him, and headed backwards to that area with the blocks.

. . .

**Bowser's Castle**

"Aha! I've found you at last!" Bowletta cackled, grinning at her find before her, Bowser's Castle.

Bowletta stormed through the doors of the castle, crossing the bridge. Some Hammer Bros saw Bowletta as she froze up.

"King Bowser?!" one of them gasped as the trio ran over.

"The one and only! What have you need of me, minions? And make it quick! I'm on a tight schedule!" Bowletta boomed, suddenly freezing up again.

"We'd like to ask, your Greatness, what exactly happened to your body?"

"I'm, um, shedding." Bowletta answered after a brief pause. Fawful burst into the room, having caught up to Bowletta finally, not having known the location of the castle after they split up to find it.

"Hah, hah, Fawful is having the exhaustion!" Fawful panted.

"Who's the bean-head?" one of the Hammer Bros asked.

"I have fury! Fawful spits upon your petty insults like the rain that pours on your heads!" Fawful was sprinting in place, fuming mad with fury.

"Oh yeah? My hammer feels like hitting upon your puny head like the stick that beats on the drum!" the same Hammer Bro retorted.

"This is my new, top-notch recruit. He's been at my side after the crash." Bowletta explained.

"Your Pickiness, I fail to see the greatness in this chump." another Hammer Bro stated.

"You'll learn to look up to him in time." Bowletta grinned.

"Any orders, your Largeness?" the third Hammer Bro asked. "You look like you're ready to give some."

"Ah, yes. Get the castle flying over to the Beanbean Kingdom. I want to expand my territory."

"To the Beanbean Kingdom? A direct assault using the castle, your Hastiness?" the Hammer Bro gasped.

"Yes. Those puny beanheads won't stand a chance, and this way, we can get Peach's voice back so she's prime for kidnapping afterwards." Bowletta did that toothy smirk again that looked ever so devilish, especially in her new state.

"I understand, your Tacticalness. I shall give word of our attack immediately." the Hammer Bro nodded, running off with his pals.

"I am having the despising of these minions of foolishness." Fawful grumbled.

"Don't mind them. Now come, we have much to do."

. . .

**Teehee Valley Underground**

Sounds were heard from above.

"Wh-what was that earthquake?!" a certain thief clad in striped purple, black and green skin walked into the room from the north. He gazed down at the guy whose face was on a plank with a rock making it slanted like a seesaw with the left side sticking up. "This… is that green guy."

He thought.

"Which means… that red guy should be around somewhere… well, for now… Rookie! Tie this guy up!

. . .

Apparently, a pillar had lowered drastically. Mario jumped over the pillar and headed through the northern opening, then heading west into an area with Dry Bones, heading all the way to a yellow pipe he knew would take him down, whether it be underground or set him sea bound.

Mario crashed to the floor against the bottom of the pipe, and knowing if Luigi wasn't down here, he'd have a fair bit of trouble climbing up, he walked out without a second thought. He went north into a room with two candle stands, the right one lit, the left one not.

Mario lit up the left stand, and a pair of teeth opened, allowing passage north, up a few ledges and further north, gasping when he saw a familiar green character tied up by rope against a red pillar with a fire symbol being covered up and a face above that symbol.

Mario jumped for joy, and burned up the rope from the side, Luigi luckily not getting harmed by the burning fires yet getting set free. Mario jumped about a bit, and Luigi looked up, gasping, and they had a bro hug.

"Nya ha ha ha ha!" Popple laughed, waltzing in and getting the Bros on edge again. "What an emotional reunion! Oh, WAH! My hankie is sopping wet with tears! Boo-stupid-hoo!"

"Popple!"

"You! Red! I've been waiting for you to arrive, see? Oh, yeah! I went and found me a rookie, hear? One that'll take you down for me, see?" Popple said, someone then calling in from the east.

"Ohhhh darling! What's all the ruckus?" Birdo walked into the scene, causing the Bros to jump and gasp. "Oh, why must THEY be here? Why can't we be alone, darling, speaking the beautiful language of love?"

"Wh-who are you calling 'darling'?!" Popple asked, a bit creeped out now. "N-Now is not the time to be doing this, see?"

"So, how'd you get your lady 'friend'?" Mario taunted, pushing Popple's buttons a bit, and even putting an emphasis on the word "friend" just to tease him that much more.

"This, uh… dame passed my audition perfectly, see? She's my all-new, bigger and better rookie, Birdo!" Popple glared daggers at Mario as he spoke.

"Darling… don't call me Birdo… call me Birdie, sweetie!" Birdo urged as Mario had a very large grin on his face.

"I don't care about names, see?" Popple kept glaring at Mario as laughs popped out every now and then. "Ha HA! I'll show you! Ya hear? You'll all be bamboozled, see? With my rookie's new power… you'll see what I mean!"

"Yes, the power of love!" Birdo smiled. Luigi started Muttley-snickering as Mario guffawed.

"AARGHH! Q-QUIET, YOU BOZOS!" Popple turned to Birdo and started speaking out of the Bros' earshot. "Now, listen, stop freaking me out, Rookie! I don't care what kind of power it is! Any kind will do!"

Mario was literally on the floor, rolling about in laughter now, and Luigi was chuckling, banging the pillar he was once tied to, bursting with chortles.

"I will destroy you, see? DESTROY YOUUUUUU!" Popple shouted, stamping his feet. "Yeah, here comes destruction ya couple of guffawing knuckleheads!"

"Darling, don't you mean we?" Birdo asked. Mario and Luigi laughed even harder. "We need to start involving each other in each other's social events, you know."

Mario held his breath, trying to stop the laughter to no avail. Mario just kept laughing as he and Luigi engaged battle with Popple and Birdo.

He booted up Fire Bros Advance on Level 1 as they always did with new Advance moves, and Mario charged up four fireballs, then hurling one in an arc at Luigi, like always.

"FIRE BROS..." Mario said. But when Luigi smashed it over Mario's head, the plumber jumped and somehow punched it into place above the space between them. "ADVANCE!"

And he did that with the next, the floating fireball growing a bit, and thus they did it twice more, and the fireball was a decent size.

Mario jumped on to Luigi's cupped hands, and he flung him backwards, the plumber spinning up to the floating fireball with that extra boost, then spiked it down at Popple like a volleyball, doing a fair bit for a Level 1 Bros Move, and actually burned him.

"Volley Bros, I'd call it." Luigi said.

"Luigi, thief at 12 'o clock!" Mario pointed at Popple. Luigi whirled around and smashed Popple in the face, knocking him back. They started up Cyclone Bros Advance, getting into cyclone mode like before, and hitting Popple twice, but Luigi propped his hammer up when they were about to finish the move.

"CYCLONE BROS ADVANCE!"

Mario tipped Luigi down on to Popple's head, watching the guy get knocked to the floor thanks to the mixture of gravity and hammer.

"Don't you touch my darling like that! I will not be having that!" Birdo growled, inhaling the guffawing Mario and draining his energy, spitting him out with no health healed due to her not getting touched by the Bros yet.

"Ick, stomach goo." Mario shook off the liquids and charged up a new record of seven fireballs. "You'll pay for that..."

He hurled them one by one at Luigi, him smashing them over Mario's head and the red plumber then bashing it up into one progressive fireball, first being small, then medium when three were mashed up, then large when five fused, then massive when seven total came into it, and the massive fireball was ready to spike down at Birdo.

Mario jumped on to Luigi's cupped hands, and he lunged him into the air, the plumber spiking the massive fireball down at Birdo, her getting scorched and taking practically triple the damage Popple did earlier, and giving her a burn.

Speaking of Popple, he was approaching Luigi, trying to look innocent, then made a break for him, jolting him briefly and weakly but long enough to stun him for a moment, as he was still wearing the gloves Mario and Luigi did when they got their respective hand powers, then using the frame of freedom to snatch his hammer.

"How'd you like that theft, bub? I bet it was pretty SHOCKING to see me use old tricks, huh?!" Popple said, smashing Mario in the face, and then Luigi, and then himself when he tried his luck and attempted to smash Mario. Luigi did Thunder Bros with Mario, bouncing off his head and zapping the very ground Popple and Birdo stood over, lowering their defences.

Birdo tried inhaling Mario, but was smashed in the face this time and utterly failed.

"Hey, Luigi, let's give Popple here a DRILL on the things you shouldn't do with us, if you catch my drift." Mario said, waving his hand about behind Luigi. Luigi nodded, and bended over, allowing Mario to jump off him like a springboard, spin a bit closer to Popple, then stop above the moved Luigi, who was ready for weight.

Mario crashed down on Luigi, and was pushed back up, hovering above Popple, and crashed down on him with impending force, and that was Drill Bros. He groaned from the burn damage, and attempted to steal Mario's hammer too with another jolt, but Mario shook it off.

"I'm used to small jolts like that, you know. Luigi does it to me all the time now. So, yeah." Mario smashed Popple in the face with his hammer, and Popple dropped Luigi's hammer.

Luigi scampered over to it, grabbed it, and cheered, then coming at Birdo with Thundercut Bros after he charged up and was hammered into the ground, finally shooting out of the ground and striking Birdo dead-on even when she side-stepped, and her attack was lowered.

Birdo approached Luigi, did a spin and hurled an egg bomb at Luigi, which hardly hurt him because he was both sturdy, and Birdo's attack was lowered. Mario and Luigi performed Snag Bros on Popple, and his Golden Mushrooms were snagged after he was smashed in the face by Luigi's feet with incredible force.

"Hey, those were my special mushrooms, see? I was saving them!"

"For a special dinner with me, darling?" Birdo asked. "That was SO lovely of you! Oh, I must show you to this beautiful restaurant I found the other day, it had fabulous food!"

Mario and Luigi were in hysterics again.

"STOP. FREAKING. ME. OUT." Popple growled between his teeth. "AND S-STOP LAUGHING, YOU FACE-HAIRED FREAKS!"

That just made them laugh harder as Birdo was stomped in the face by Luigi when he tried stomping Popple but Birdo stood in front of him.

"Don't worry, darling! I will protect you!" Birdo walked behind him and grabbed him from behind, then started inhaling him.

"What are you doing?! St-Stop it! STOP IT!" Popple broke free from Birdo's insanely strong grip and he attempted to escape the vacuum. "YOU! PLUMBERS! HELP! ACK!"

Popple flew into Birdo's mouth, Mario and Luigi banging the floor, laughing their heads off. Birdo looked like she was chewing, stepped back a bit, and spat out a large white oval-shaped egg, causing them to stop laughing for a moment. Then Birdo spat out another. And another. And finally to end it, another.

"Whoa." Mario gasped. "That must've been an EGGciting journey through Birdo's stomach!"

"Truly EGGticing, I must say." Luigi joined in.

"EGGcelent choice of words, bro."

"Well, who wouldn't, when we're EGGING each other on with these."

"Well, when someone starts CRACKING egg puns, everyone joins in."

"And that makes the egg YOLKS even funnier."

"Especially if we keep SHELLING out the puns." Mario said as he was run over by three of the eggs and Luigi was ran over by one. He gulped a Super Mushroom and watched Luigi crack the leftmost egg. A bomb was inside, and ran at Mario, who leaped over it and heard it explode behind him.

"It's time these guys made an EGGxit from this battle!" Mario was ran over by two more eggs, and Luigi smashed away an egg before Mario smashed the back egg with his hammer, and Popple stormed out of the eggshell, smashing the other two eggs.

"OMLETTIN' YOU SLIDE THIS TIME, ROOKIE." Popple said, causing the Bros to go into hysterics. "DON'T. DO. THAT. AGAIN. SERIOUSLY, YOU'RE BEING VERY CREEPY."

"Sorry, sweetie. I had to protect you." Birdo said.

"Hey, it looks like the egg puns have SCRAMBLED over to Popple's brain!" Mario said as Luigi smashed away Popple when he tried to steal from him. Luigi then followed up with a zap, which knocked the guy out. "Looks like he made like an egg and was beaten!"

"You may have defeated my darling, but that's as far as you go!" Birdo shouted, standing on tip-toes near the Bros, and started spinning, shooting out egg bombs as she flashed red. Both Mario and Luigi were pelted by several of them, and she raised her guard back up to the normal standard.

Mario and Luigi performed Snag Bros on Birdo, snagging a jar of yummy Ultra Syrup from Birdo after Luigi kicked her in the face after getting flung at by Mario. Luigi got Birdo with Thunder Bros again, but he was then inhaled and some of his health was drained to heal Birdo. She spat him out after a while.

"Well, getting eaten is definitely a violating feeling." Luigi said, shaking off the spit and watching Mario charge up a fair few of fireballs. He hurled one at Luigi, and he smashed it a bit too fast for him to knock up into a spot, and Luigi was a bit disappointed by his failure to the point where he forgot there were more fireballs.

He was hit by the second one, yelping and salvaging the moment by ramming Birdo while on fire. She was damage further, and the fire extinguished. They came at Birdo three times with Cyclone Bros, not having a fourth hit involved. Birdo tried sucking Luigi up, but he hammered her away frantically.

Mario burned Birdo when she tried sucking up Luigi again randomly, and Mario didn't hold back. Birdo was scorched, and fell to the floor, defeated and dropping four Red Peppers. Mario took them all.

_Mario levelled up to Level 30! Mario got an extra +5HP!_

_Luigi levelled up to Level 30! Luigi got an extra +3POW!_

Birdo and Popple just lay there for a moment, Birdo crawling towards Popple in an attempt to glomp him.

"…Hack! …Hork! …Hufff!" Popple coughed, then frantically leaping away and to his feet when Birdo touched him. "Ugh! What are you doing?!"

Mario and Luigi were chuckling again.

"Y-You! Look at you! Pathetic! You're useless, see?" Popple stamped the ground. "You… You're fired!"

Birdo leaped to her feet.

"Are… are you saying that was all my fault?! Ooh! Shocking! SHOCKING, I say!" Birdo shrieked, eyes watering. "Ooh! Shocking! SHOCKING, I say!"

Birdo balled up her fists and approached Popple, then tail-whipped him out of the underground, over to who-knows-where.

"HOME RUN!" Mario shouted.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Popple cried as he flew off into the distance.

"NEW RECORD!" Mario added as Luigi waved Popple goodbye with his hat.

"Clearly this is a test for me. Yes, the powers-that-be want me to go out on my own. Once I overcome many hardships, I shall be one step closer to superstardom!" Birdo screeched passionately. "I CAN'T believe I lost to YOU!"

Then she ran off, and the Bros skedaddled into a nearby yellow pipe that took them above ground near the entrance of the valley. They headed back to the Castle Town.

**Beanbean Castle Town**

"Oh no!" Luigi gasped, Bullet Bills of all things crashing into the town everywhere.

"The skies are raining destruction!" an old Bean cried. "It's the end of everything! The town will be destroyed! We all gotta take refuge! You should, too!"

"Uh, this was sudden." Mario said. "Let's go check out the castle!"

. . .

"Oh, Mario Bros! This is our most desperate hour! The end of the Beanbean Kingdom may be at hand!" Lady Lima shouted in the entrance room.

"Bowser's Castle has unleashed an assault on the Beanbean Kingdom from the skies overhead!" Queen Bean looked a bit worried about this.

"Air assault!" Luigi cried as the castle was hit by some Bullet Bills. He ducked as the place shook a fair bit.

"This is Bowletta's doing!" Lady Lima cried. "We're utterly defenceless against an attack from the sky!"

Prince Peasley walked in.

"We have safely evacuated Princess Peach and the others to Little Fungitown." He stated.

"Hmm… At least Princess Peach is safe… that's something." Queen Bean said. "But if we don't do something about Bowser's Castle, our poor kingdom may not survive…"

"Hey! We know ALL ABOUT that castle!"

"…Eh? What's that, now? You know something about Bowser's Castle?" Peasley asked.

"We know how to get from Bowser's room to the bathroom, you know!" Mario said proudly.

"You say you know how to get from Bowser's room to the bathroom? What an odd thing to say…"

"Oh! I get it!" Queen Bean chuckled. "You're sayin that you Mario Bros know Bowser's Castle like the backs of your hands!"

"I don't know much about the back of my hand… hardly anything, since I'm always wearing these gloves…" Luigi shivered, scared of where this conversation was going.

"I, for one, feel very reassured knowing the Mario Bros are going up to that horrible castle!"

"Oh yeah!" Mario cheered.

"Oh no!" Luigi cried.

"…No. This is our kingdom's problem. We cannot impose upon them any more than we have." Prince Peasley stated.

"While that certainly may be true…"

"Farewell!" Prince Peasley darted off before Queen Bean finished.

"Oh! Prince Peasley! Whatever are you doing? You mustn't go to Bowser's Castle all alone…"

"Your Highness…" Lady Lima called from behind. "Can we not think of a countermeasure ourselves?"

"Of course! Let us do just that. Cowering here will get us nothing." Queen Bean said. "And if you two plan to invade Bowser's Castle, then you are brave indeed…"

"Uh, and this is just a thought, but isn't there someone who can fly anywhere in our kingdom? If I were younger, I would cling to his legs and chase after the prince myself…" Lady Lima sighed as she saw Queen Bean head back to her room, and started to follow. "Ah… But just sitting here talking about it won't make it happen…

"Hm, looks like we'll have to get some way into the sky with the help of someone in this kingdom. How about I go find someone who can fly us into the floating castle, while you get us prepared?" Mario suggested as they entered the Pipe Junction."

"We're going?!"

"Yep. Now, I'll be going." Mario said, and he walked through Pipe 2. Luigi sighed, knowing there truly was no way out of this now. He headed over to the Gear Shop, going around the broken bridge. He bought a Tank Badge, and put it on himself, then headed over to Little Fungitown through Pipe 7 after buying another Beanstar Badge just in case.

Luigi walked towards the embassy, and noticed something interesting; Popple scrubbing one of the large mushrooms with a Toad watching him.

"Rookie! Put a little more oomph into it, will ya? Polish things up!" the Toad said.

"Hey, hey!" Popple sped up.

"The irony…" Luigi said as he entered the embassy and found Peach in the room to the right with Toadsworth.

"Ahh… Luigi! Please help the people of the Beanbean Kingdom! You must!" Peach pleaded.

"I wonder what's happening at Beanbean Castle now… I do hope Lady Lima is safe… Master Luigi! You must do something about Bowser's Castle quickly! Do tell Master Mario this, as well!" Toadsworth said. "Now, go forth!"

Luigi headed over to the Gear Shop, and bought some Scandal Jeans for himself. He then made a final trip to the Item Shop there, and bought some Nuts, Mushrooms, Super Mushrooms, jars of both Super Syrups and Syrups, 1-UP Mushrooms, Refreshing Herbs, and a few other items before leaving.

Outside, Luigi saw Mario flying on Blablanadon, and the duo landed before him.

"All set?" Mario asked.

"I guess so."

"OK! Grab on to me! We're going to Bowser's Castle!" Blablanadon said hastily. "We must go help the Prince and take down that castle!"

Luigi jumped on to the Blablanadon, and they rode him all the way up to Bowser's Castle, somehow safely landing inside, at the entrance.

"I'll be waiting here for you. If you want to leave this castle, just talk to me." Blablanadon said. Mario and Luigi split up to the sides and got an Ultra Mushroom and a jar of Ultra Syrup from two blocks, then crossed the bridge and headed through the front door, now beginning the final stretch of their long adventure AFTER Mario changed his Beanstar Badge to the newer one just in case that made a difference.

. . .

"O Great Bowletta!" Fawful called, running up to Bowletta, who was sitting on her throne. "The Mario Bros who I hate are coming this way!"

"Bah! No matter! They'll never make it here, 'cause I've taken extra precautions!"

"I have the wonderings about those precautions…" Fawful trailed, rather curious.

"KOOPALINGS! YOUR TIME HAS COME!" Bowletta shouted.

"YES, KING DAD!" The seven Koopalings said as they came out through the door to the east, and spread throughout the castle, ready to intercept.

* * *

**By the way, I'm just going to say now. I like to think Birdo is female, and not give the whole gender thing a second thought. Seriously, don't even talk about it if you can help it. End of discussion.**

**Oh, and we're in the final stretch of this long story, too. Who knew neglecting "New Super Mario Bros X" and "Sonic Challenges Mario to a Grand Prix!" for a week would get me this far? Well, I better go write out the chapter of the latter before I continue to finish this story.**


	45. The Beginning of the End

Mario and Luigi - A Superstar Story

Chapter 45: The Beginning of the End

They turned right after the first door, and met eye to eye with a cannonball shot by a Gunner Guy, and a pair of Hammer Bros got involved.

"Ah, old and new guys. Nice." Mario said as he got ready for battle.

"Hey, bro. It's Mario." One of the Hammer Bros said.

"YEAH, THAT'S MARIO." The other repeated. "Oh, wow. It's been a few years since we last saw that guy. Oh, and look, he brought the green guy. Louis? Laura? Link? Ah, shoot. That's what made him so memorable, how his name was a weird one."

"It's Luigi!" Luigi shouted.

"Ah, yeah, Luigi. I figured as much, I was just… uh, never mind. Anyway, I'm here to knock you two punks out, so yeah, and all that stuff." The Hammer Bro said.

Mario and Luigi nodded, and got on with it. Luigi spun with his hammer stuck out on a spinning Mini Mario as he drove into a Gunner Guy, Luigi smashing the low guy thrice before standing straight and smashing the Gunner Guy after Mario swung down Luigi who was held up like a hammer stick and Luigi held his hammer up like the hammerhead of the large human hammer.

"Yeah, we should give that a name. Maybe Cyclone-Smash Bros?" Mario suggested.

"Sure."

The Gunner Guy was a goner after that. The Hammer Bros looked pretty impressed, but when one of them fell victim to an incoming Mario drilling into the poor sap's head from above, AKA Drill Bros, the lone Hammer Bro was a bit worried, throwing a single hammer at Mario. The plumber was clonked by the hammer, and fell over.

Luigi ran up to the Hammer Bro and zapped him, doing critical damage. Mario got up, and stomped the Hammer Bro, finishing him off.

"These guys hit pretty hard…" Mario rubbed his head.

"That's why I packed Mushrooms!" Luigi chirped, giving Mario a Mushroom to heal up a bit more than all the damage he took from that one hammer. They jumped up some ledges past where the enemies were, and through the door to the north. They jumped up some more ledges, then carefully jumped from platform to platform as they made their way to the other side, dodging a Gunner Guy and ending the crossing with a spin-jump to the door.

In the next room, there was a Koopaling across a bridge. It was Iggy. Mario and Luigi approached him.

"Welcome to my lair!" Iggy then jumped a bit back and forth, then starting circling the Bros in a spin. Mario and Luigi kept their eyes on him.

"Remember, Luigi. Keep your eyes on him no matter what. Let your eyes off him, and he'll smash ya with some machine or something." Mario said as they turned around as they were circled to keep watch of him. Iggy stopped to the north of them, Mario and Luigi dizzy like they had been spinning for days.

Iggy jumped all the way to some ground across some lava that would mean the Bros having to walk around in a clockwise fashion to reach the centre. Mario and Luigi stumbled on to the northeast island, dodging a circling fire, and heading to the southeast island through another black bridge.

They tripped, flying over another moving fire, and rolled on to the south island, getting up and crawling towards Iggy standing proudly in the middle. They began combat with him.

Luigi started things by smashing him in the face with his feet, recovering some health due to his badge. Mario clonked him with his hammer.

Iggy started spinning, and whirled around the two Bros, making them dizzy as they attempted to hit the hard-to-hit target. They fell over, injuring themselves. Iggy chuckled as he ran back to his place. Mario and Luigi got him with Thunder Bros, it luckily lowering Iggy's defence.

Mario and Luigi then, now that Iggy was wide open to damage, came at him with Snag Bros, smashing the guy so hard with the chuck that he fell on his rump and had his Max Mushrooms snagged from him.

Iggy tried the spinning manoeuvre again, but Mario put a stop to that now that he knew what Iggy was doing. Luigi smashed Mario into Iggy in ball form, doing Knockback Bros. Mario hurled some fireballs in an arc at Luigi, who smashed them over Mario's head and watched him hit all three of them into one bigger fireball that he jumped and spiked down at Iggy.

Iggy shot some fire blasts at Mario, and he smashed them back. Luigi zapped the kid, and watched him fall to the floor, collapsed in defeat. He then disappeared.

"Well, that was pretty easy." Mario stated, dusting his hands as a large mechanical monster, which looked like a large black bowling ball for the body, stumpy legs and Koopa-like hands with wrecking balls in them, approached the Bros from Mario's blind spot. Luigi quivered in fear.

Iggy landed in the machine out of the above, and looked ready to really fight. Luigi yelped, and Mario spun around, noticing and back-flipping out of the way of the mechanical beast's wrecking balls.

"What is that?!" Mario asked.

"You may call it… IGGY'S WRECKING BALLS!" Iggy shouted, grinning when he finished. He pushed a lever, and a wrecking ball swung at Luigi, smashing him to the floor.

"That thing is destructive!" Mario groaned when he was sent flying by the wrecking ball coming straight for him. "We need to take this thing down!"

And so they began combat with Iggy's Wrecking Balls. Luigi zapped the stumpy feet of the mechanical creation, causing it to start spinning, sparking and for its attack to spike, hurling wrecking balls at various moments.

Mario jumped over one heading for him, and Luigi hammered away a ground-bound one. The machine overheated, and the glass lid protecting Iggy from jump-damage was lifted. Mario drilled him hard with Drill Bros, doing a fair bit of damage to Iggy before running back.

He yelped, then stomped the machine over to Mario, and stamped him after Mario missed hitting the robot with his hammer. Luigi used Thunder Bros to very effectively lower Wrecking Balls' defence and damage it, but raising its attack.

Mario hammered the large red button on the front of Wrecking Balls' stomach, also doing a small bit of damage. The hands of the machine retracted and came out as boxing gloves. Mario's eyes widened as the robot went over to him and held up both arms in the air.

Mario thought fast hammered the machine about eight times before it lowered its arms and didn't attack thanks to that quick thinking. It also got in a ton of counterattack damage. The arms retracted and became normal robotic Koopa hands again.

"Note to self, DON'T hit that red button on the front." Mario noted as the machine's red button retracted inwards and left a black hole on the front. Light started charging up there, and eventually, out shot out a piping hot beam of fire which swerved left and right, the Bros jumping whenever it was about to hit them.

Unfortunately, Mario slipped just before the attack ended, and was burned pretty badly and took some damage. He got the burn status, too. Mario then hurled Luigi at the machine, him flying in through the black hole and striking a weak point. The machine wobbled, Luigi falling out, then exploded, Iggy flying far from the battle scene.

A blue portal appeared where Iggy once stood. Mario and Luigi walked through it, then feeling refreshed. There was now a bridge with two Gunner Guys to the north of the bridge on a little connection to it. They were shooting south, the bullets cutting across the bridge. The Bros tried crossing it, but were gunned down by the guys.

A swift Cyclone-Smash Bros took out the first Gunner Guy, leaving one left. Mario stomped him, and was then shot by the Gunner Guy when an Army Guy pushed him into place, and pulled him back. Luigi zapped the Gunner Guy, and they moved on after Luigi was unnecessarily healed.

They headed through a door when they found they couldn't proceed outside it, then Mario and Luigi jumped over some SSDS from the get-go, and met eye-to-eye with two Magikoopas.

"Ah! It's Mario! And his sneaky brother Luigi! I may be able to become Kamek's apprentice after all if I play my cards right…" one of them grinned as the other was zapped.

"Hey! He does hand magic! I read up on that!" the other gasped as they vibrated from the shock and when it wore off, was kicked in the face by Mario. "Argh! Stomped again! CURSE YOU, PLUMBER!"

The Magikoopa healed himself, and the other shot a fire ring at Mario, him jumping through it, then looking proud as he was burned from behind as the fire ring went past the healed Magikoopa. Mario and Luigi felt annoyed, and destroyed the first Magikoopa without a care with Knockback Bros, and dealt with the other with Splash Bros.

They jumped over some more SSDS, and dodged some more Gunner Guys and a few Hammer Bros, and even some Magikoopas' homing blasts before a pair of Gunner Guys clipped their feet with some shots, dragging them into battle.

Luigi got them exhausted by simply using Thunder Bros, which hit them hard and dropped their defence hard, allowing Mario to defeat one with just a stomp.

"As long as we drop their defence, they don't stand a chance!" Mario stated, then getting hit by a rolling cannonball shot by the Gunner Guy with the help of an Army Guy. Mario and Luigi gang-smashed the Gunner Guy with their Ultra Hammers, and moved on.

_Mario levelled up to Level 31! Mario got an extra +5DEF!_

The Bros were then, as they finished that battle, dragged into another with two Sniper Bills and a Magikoopa.

"Oh no!" Luigi gasped. "Those Bullet Bills are in prone mode with BB Snipers Mk 2! They're also locked on to us!"

"How did you know that, greenie?" the Magikoopa asked.

"I read it up a few years ago while Mario was on another adventure." Luigi shrugged. "Over at the library."

Luigi then got the Magikoopa four times with Cyclone Bros and smashed the guy on the head when he finished with Cyclone-Smash Bros, inflicting the dizzy status on to the guy. They followed up with Burrow Bros on the first Sniper Bill, now that the Magikoopa was shortly not a threat in his state.

The first Sniper Bill shot itself with a mini Bullet Bill at Luigi, Luigi jumping over the Sniper Bill but getting hit by the mini. The other shot out a mini Bullet Bill and itself at Mario, the plumber jumping on the Sniper Bill and bouncing on to the mini Bullet Bill, thus avoiding the attack altogether yet not dealing counterattack damage.

"Darn, this guy's defence is as tough as nails if he can't take counterattack damage." Mario grumbled.

"Well, the other guy took tons of damage in a single blow, so maybe he's just resistant to counterattack damage?" Luigi zapped the first Sniper Bill, causing his mini Bullet Bill to get bounced off of afterwards. The Magikoopa recovered from its dizziness, and watched his ally get zapped to death by Luigi.

Mario and Luigi then went Snag Bros on the remaining Sniper Bill, and extracted a jar of Ultra Syrup from him and the vacuum part of the attack finished the guy off. The Magikoopa sent a fire ring at the Bros, Mario jumping through it and living to jump another day, Luigi getting hit by it and getting his butt torched.

Luigi got the Magikoopa ready to get finished with Thunder Bros, and let Mario defeat the guy with a simple kick.

_Luigi levelled up to Level 31! Luigi got an extra +3POW!_

The Bros continued through the castle, eventually reaching a room with bridge leading north and some steel panels stretching across a long distance east. They stepped on the steel panel, and Morton came crashing down on the steel panels at the end of the steel panel road. Mario and Luigi snacked on some food and syrup quickly to get ready.

They jumped over Morton's shockwaves and approached him.

"So, how about opening that portal?" Luigi asked. Morton glared at him, and pulled out a shiny black hammer with blue shapes revolving around it.

"Not happening!" Morton stated as he dropped the hammer when Luigi hit him with Thunder Bros and lowered his defence, then getting smashed in the face by Luigi through use of Snag Bros, and his Max Nuts were snagged.

"Argh!" Morton looked annoyed, waving his shiny steel hammer about that had some blue magic emanating from it. "Looks like you've tested my patience!"

"You have patience? News to me." Mario teased. Morton raised the hammer, and ran up to Mario, smashing him in the face with it, and doing the same with Luigi, sending them spinning in pain. "Ow! That hurt!"

Morton then jumped and ground-pounded the ground, invisible shockwaves sweeping the Bros off their feet, but not for long as the Bros knocked back with Thundercut Bros, his attack getting lowered.

Morton was sent into the air, but landed firm and steady, smashing Luigi back into the ground with his hammer, and knocking him out. Mario winced as he gave Luigi a 1-UP Super before he was tripped off his feet by the invisible shockwaves.

"Ugh… all I remember is a hammer and the taste of steel…" Luigi groaned, getting up. He saw the situation, and stomped Morton. Mario did the same, to get hit by a fire blast… or four.

After the Bros stomped Morton on the head dead-on the forehead at the same time, Morton groaned, swinging at the Bros one last time with his hammer, sending them flying down the steel panel road, and landing flat on the floor, not moving. Morton then collapsed, his energy spent for now, and disappeared.

"Two down, we'll probably have to defeat the other five now at one point." Mario realized as they entered the blue portal after getting up, the two getting healed and landing before a raised platform leading on to an accessible path. "And now we can move on!"

Mario and Luigi dodged a nearby Magikoopa after high-jumping twice, found a Hoo Bean as they scaled up some ledges, then spin-jumped over to a door that opened upon them approaching, the duo noticing the stopped water fountain by some fire blocking the path ahead. They headed through the door.

The Bros high-jumped up a few ledges, dodged a Gunner Guy but were caught by the other of the two. The two Gunner Guys glared at the Bros, one of them paying the price because of the power of Knockback Bros. The other faced the sheer and utter pain of Swing Bros. Some more high-jumping was done, and the Bros headed onwards.

There was a whirlwind flying about over the lava, and Mario and Luigi got as close to the edge of the ledge as safely possible, then spin-jumping into it when it got close, and flying into the next whirlwind when they successfully got into the first. They continued to spin into the next whirlwind, using it to get into the next, and thus making it onwards on some land they landed on.

The Bros used the following whirlwinds which actually moved back and forth to continue through the castle, holding in some whirlwinds to time their spins correctly, and making it even further than the door leading onwards, finding their way to a Monty Mole who handed them a 1-UP Super.

The duo headed back after some more whirlwind timing, and headed through the door. They crossed a bridge, and there was Lemmy, who circled the Bros in a spin, just like Iggy, but the Bros didn't watch him, and thus didn't get dizzy.

However, Lemmy wasn't attempting to get them dizzy… as there were now four Lemmys to all four sides of the Bros, practically screaming for them to get hit.

"Hey! Can't hit me! Nah-nah-nah-nah-nah!" all four clones said, blowing raspberries at the Bros.

"Which one do you think is real, Luigi?" Mario asked.

"It's the one to the north of us!" Luigi pointed at the one who sweat-dropped. Mario smashed that one, causing tears to well in Lemmy's eyes, and for him to jump away to a safe distance. They began proper combat with him.

"Ooh, they hit me! They hit me! Lemmy at 'em!" Lemmy shouted with tears in his eyes, annoyed he was beaten at his own game. They started things off with an attempt at defence lowering, but Thunder Bros only did small damage and hardly affected him.

"Huh, Thunder Bros hardly did much nor did it lower his defence. Interesting." Mario deduced. "Let's give Snag Bros a swing."

Mario hurled the spinning Luigi into Lemmy, and he stuttered backwards as Mario and Luigi joined hands to snag some Max Syrup from him. Lemmy fell on his back, and multiplied into four.

"Hey! Look! I multiplied again!" Lemmy said, pointing at a random clone. "Which one is me? You'll never know!"

Little did he know that he had pointed at a random clone, and none of the others had did that. They just stood there, except for the clone he had pointed at who flinched and looked scared.

Luigi smashed the pointing Lemmy in the face with his feet, knocking him back into his clones and defeating them all, the other three turning out to be Goombas who fell into the lava and were torched.

"What? Stupid clones, not copying me!" Lemmy cried as Mario ran up to him to burn him, but Lemmy blew a raspberry in Mario's face, causing him to overheat his hand and get soot over him and only really hit Lemmy with a weak wave of fire which didn't even do much. He multiplied again, and this time didn't do anything stupid.

"Hey, I'm gonna try and trick this kid. Play along, OK bro?" Mario whispered. Luigi nodded. "Hey, Lemmy! Which one's the real you? I have a nice juicy snack for you in my pocket!"

"You do?" the west Lemmy asked, running at Mario. "Gimmie! Gimmie! Gimmie!"

Luigi jolted Lemmy with a massive wave of electricity, and watched him get fried, only for him to turn back into a Goomba and fly into the lava.

"Nah-nah-nah-nah-nah! Tricked you! You got double-double crossed!" the east Lemmy taunted. Mario looked annoyed, but satisfied now that he knew the ID of the real Lemmy, and crushed him under his feet, pinning him down. That Lemmy turned into a Goomba, and Mario kicked it into the lava in frustration.

"This kid's actually good!"

"You got double-double-double-double crossed!" the north Lemmy chuckled as he and the north Lemmy double-teamed the Bros by shooting fire at them. Luigi was hit both times, Mario dodged one, and smashed the other at the south Lemmy, knocking him to the floor. "OW!"

That Lemmy was also a Goomba, and fell into the lava.

"You got double-double-double-double-double-double crossed!" the lone Lemmy taunted, even going as far as wagging his butt at Mario and Luigi. Luigi smashed the exposed behind under the commands of Mario, and felt eternally bad when Lemmy used Luigi's niceness against him, and burst into tears.

Mario evaporated the fake tears to stop Luigi's guilt, and it worked effectively. Lemmy pulled out a purple bomb with yellow stars dotted over it, did a back-flip and in mid-air, chucked the large bomb down at the Bros, knocking them over and sending them rolling in pain.

Mario and Luigi then backlashed through Cyclone Bros, hitting Lemmy four times before smashing down on him when the attack became Cyclone-Smash Bros. Mario then pounded Lemmy, and he multiplied. Luigi smashed the front Lemmy in the face, but it was a faker. Mario pounded away at the north Lemmy with his hammer, but that too was a faker.

Mario was shot in the face by one of Lemmy's fire blasts, but Luigi deflected the one shot by the other Lemmy, and it hit the sender in the face, proving him too to be a fake. A combination of Knockback Bros and Chopper Bros finally took down the pest, him collapsing and disappearing, leaving the usual blue portal back out of the large chain of rooms leading to him.

_Mario levelled up to Level 32! Mario got an extra +5DEF!_

Being warped and healed by the portal, they found the water fountain working now, and continued the tedious trail of battles and puzzles throughout the last stretch of their journey…

* * *

**You know, there actually is an old game called "Iggy's Wrecking Balls". That's where I got the idea from. And part of me was tempted to split all the Koopaling fights into a chapter per fight, but I changed my mind about that due to length.**


	46. The Middle of the End

Mario and Luigi - A Superstar Story

Chapter 46: The Middle of the End

Mario drank the water, Luigi stomped it out. That's how they made it through the fire blocking their path. They high-jumped to some higher ground onwards, and headed through the door that so kindly opened itself for them.

"I won't lie, that actually creeps me out." Mario said as they began combat with a Magikoopa… and his two sniper friends. Luigi got them prime for the pickings with Thunder Bros, and Mario took down the Magikoopa with Drill Bros.

Mario hopped over some gunfire, but was hit by the incoming sniper, and the same thing happened again backwards. Luigi finished them both off, shooting down at them with Thunder Bros and ending the battle.

_Luigi levelled up to Level 32! Luigi got an extra +4HP!_

The Bros jumped up a few of the ledges there, hit a block and claimed some goods, ad headed west, to a more electronic area, with some mice running from a north hole to a south hole, past a jolting pipe disconnected by several other parts later south.

"Remember how to do this, bro?" Mario asked. "Because it's dispersed from my memory."

"Well, we simply have to use the water to push the mice, which is what I'm assuming these things are, between the electric part of the pipe and the one adjacent to it to use them to conduct the electricity, and repeat that method for each section of the pipe to thus stimulate the door mechanism into opening." Luigi explained. Mario nodded, and guzzled some water from the fountain next to the door.

He stood in line with the first gap between pipes and gave Luigi a signal. Luigi hammered Mario on the head, and a drop of water came shooting out and pelted a mouse who came out of the hole to scamper off to his friends to the south in the face, sending the mouse into a roll between the pipes.

"YAH!" the mouse cried as he was jolted, another coming out to see what was up.

"You OK, Mousassa?" the mouse asked, then gasping as he saw the state Mousassa was in. He was getting zapped and you could only see a black version of his silhouette and his red nose. "WHOA! I'LL GET HELP!"

The mouse scampered south, to get pushed into the second gap in the electrical current of pipes and mice, the electrical current continuing into the third pipe.

"YAH!" the second mouse cried. A third mouse came out of the south hole this time, catching the Bros off-guard and it looking about for the source of the screaming by the third and final gap in the electrical current.

Mario rolled down there, and was hammered in the head by a following Luigi, the last spray of water available coming out of his mouth and hitting the mouse in the face, sending the guy rolling into the third gap.

"YAH!" the third mouse cried. The door opened as a red light turned on above the door. They walked through the door after Mario coughed up the rest of the water he had guzzled moments ago, and Mario and Luigi saw two little plants, hardly grown. Mario went back for water, and re-entered, now fat with water, ready to let out on the plants.

Mario did just that, hitting both plants with all the water he had just guzzled quickly when Luigi tickled him. They grew into Piranha Plants who spat out activation blocks that floated above the soil. Mario looked ready to beat down on them.

"What, Boss?" one of them asked after an awkward silence. "You're the people who GREW me, why should I attack you, Boss?"

"Why would you even expect us to, Boss?" the other asked.

"Well, regardless of how they get grown, enemies seem to usually attack us, especially if we're invading their boss' castle." Mario shrugged. "So it's become an instinct."

"Well, I guess that makes sense, Boss. Well, we'll be around, Boss. Call us if you need us, or maybe not and we'll come anyway, Boss."

"And watch out, Boss, some of these blocks have some dangerous stuff in this castle, or so I've heard as a sprout, Boss." The other of the two Piranha Plants warned before they both dug off… likely out of this castle and into the great outdoors.

"So, which one should be bash, then?" Mario asked after the two stared at the blocks during an awkward silence. Luigi hesitated, then bashed the right block, and a bunch of (two) Magikoopas and a Chomp Bro ambushed them. "Well, definitely not this one."

Luigi charged up a thunderball, jumped off Mario's head, glided above the three enemies, and shot down his electrical power down at the ground, hitting all of them and bringing their health and defence down, and Drill Bros was able to take out a Magikoopa in one blow.

The Chomp Bro started spinning, holding out the Chain Chomp he had with him by the chain, and hurled the little guy at Luigi, knocking the plumber on his back, and the Chain Chomp scampered off.

"CHOMP!" The Chomp Bro ordered. The Chomp Bro caught an incoming Chain Chomp thrown by one of his mates, a Supply Guy. He gave a thumbs-up to the Supply Guy as he waved and walked off to assist to a Hammer Bro who broke his hammer, Chain Chomps and all.

Mario was a bit slow after seeing such a disorienting attack, and the fire ring formed by the Magikoopa struck him hard, Luigi getting hit hard also due to him being on his back.

"We need to reduce the power of that Chomp Bro. He's too deadly for his own good." Mario said. "Thundercut Bros, let's go!"

Luigi had already charged up his electricity, and jumped towards Mario's head, for him to barrel roll behind him and smash his bro into the ground for him to shoot out of below the feet of the Chomp Bro, causing him to groan and fall, defeated.

Mario did a spin in mid-air after jumping, and twirled into the face of the lone Magikoopa, knocking the guy out, performing a critical (or Lucky!) hit, ending the battle. Mario bashed the left block, and the door opened.

They moved on, having a quick HP/BP refill stop just before they crossed the bridge that made Ludwig drop down and withdraw into his shell. He went to the left of Luigi, and started making funny movements that the Bros jumped over.

"Is he going Border Jump on us?" Mario asked, leaping over the incoming shell.

"I think he is." Luigi said as he jumped. After what seemed like a while of jumping over wacky shell movements, Ludwig went to in front of the Bros, and got out of his shell. He jumped away.

"OK, then…" Mario said. "We'll be leaving, then."

As soon as Mario stepped on the bridge, Ludwig came crashing down at ambushed them from behind. Beginning the battle with a successful and effective combination of Knockback Bros and Snag Bros, although there were no spoils from the latter.

"I've heard you've snagged items from my younger brothers, so I've taken an extra countermeasure to ensure you do NOT make off with any of my wondrous belongings." Ludwig said as he withdrew into his shell and rammed Luigi twice through various shell movements, and Mario once because he dodged most of the attacks directed at him with jumps and even a hammer counter.

Ludwig leaped out of his shell and used his Magic Sceptre to blast Mario and Luigi several times with slightly weak but plentiful blue shots of fire. Mario took a fair bit of damage, but absorbed the fire through his hands to heal the damage dealt.

"Sheesh, you're certainly keeping the heat on us, not even giving us a moment to think." Mario said as they tried Thundercut Bros, and sent Ludwig into the air, ready for Mario to intercept with an extra stomp attack.

Ludwig, however, saw this coming and fluttered out of the way and Mario crashed to the floor. Ludwig had a rough landing, taking a fair bit of fall damage. Ludwig then tried to pull an Iggy and started circling the Bros to floor them through dizziness, but moments before the dizziness got to the Bros, Mario smashed him in the face.

Thunder Bros was executed to see if Ludwig was affected by defence dropping, but he jumped when Luigi hurled the electricity at Ludwig's feet, and fluttered until it wore off.

"I've heard you've also used a defence lowering strategy to defeat my younger brothers faster. Which I've easily found a way of dodging with ease, of course." Ludwig explained as Luigi bounced back into the air with another ball of electricity and shocked the ground, lowering Ludwig's defence while he was distracted by his explanation.

"His in-depth explanations distract him from the battle." Mario whispered as they quickly got him with Burrow Bros while he was looking annoyed at being interrupted. "We must exploit that!"

Ludwig started spinning around Mario and Luigi again, and the Bros were successfully floored through dizziness, but tripping over hardly does much damage to begin with, so the effort yielded little results.

Ludwig pulled out his sceptre, but Luigi shut down his plan as they did Rally Bros, and Ludwig groaned, then collapsed dramatically, then disappearing and leaving behind yet another blue portal. They walked into it, and were healed.

The way was revealed to be open, as some spikes lowered by a hole in a gate leading to a button that Mini Mario ran under and hit after being shrunk, a purple platform getting raised. He ran out after getting a jar of Ultra Syrup and a Super Mushroom to get hit on the head again and be returned to his normal height.

The Bros high-jumped up on to the platform, and up to a door which a Magikoopa was behind. He was swiftly dodged, and the Bros continued through the path, entering a large room. There was a Bros Block all the way to the northwest, and it was bashed. They headed back to a red gate, and Mario smashed Luigi underground for him to dig past it.

Luigi popped out of the ground after digging under several gates, doing an upside-down U-turn to the first section of two per row in the second row of the three, where there was a button he hit, allowing Mario to enter the second section in the third row. Luigi went back to Mario using a solo-spring, and Mario was shrunk again.

He went to the first section in the third row, and hammered a button he saw there. The gate in the northeast was lowered, and the Bros moved on. In the next room, they walked all the way to the northwest, and hit a button. Down went some spikes blocking a Mini Mario passage near the entrance the Bros came from in the room.

They headed back there, and Mario was shrunk and sent up some ledges after going through the hole, then jumping from shelf to shelf claiming the various spoils from the blocks up there, the spoils being an Ultra Mushroom and a 1-UP Mushroom. Mario, dodging all the Boos up there, found his way to the southeast shelf, and headed to a bonus area.

He jumped up the blue block staircase, hopped from pillar to pillar above the lava while avoiding the Podoboos, and landed back on brown ground, walking a fair bit before he had to lunge out of the way of fire bars. He survived that, and thus jumped up a separated block staircase, dropping down past a pit of lava on to solid ground again.

He jumped on to a moving platform, jumping over blocks that were in his way, and even over some spiky blocks, before going up a secret passage up to the ceiling and going backwards to where he found two blocks he could actually reach from the side he was on. One of them had an Ultra Mushroom, the other an Ultra Nut.

Mario got back to where the moving platform stopped, and jumped down a few platforms before crossing a bridge with a cardboard cut-out of Bowser dangling on a thin brown rope as if he was being hanged above him. Mario touched the axe, and the bridge disappeared as if the axe was some kind of switch… which it probably was. The cut-out dropped into the lava and was torched to pieces.

"Why in the world would Bowser recreate one of his earlier castles and even our first battle? Why would he want to remember falling into lava?" Mario wondered.

There was a block afterwards which Mario hit. In the northwest of the room Luigi was in, a red gate lowered. Mario returned to Luigi via pipe back to the start of the bonus area, and thus jumped down and ran over to him, the Bros then heading through the newly opened path.

They high-jumped up a ledge and into the next room. There, there were two levels along a narrow strip, the north one higher than the south. Mario jumped on the higher path, and there were some Simu Blocks in the area. They bashed the first pair at the same time, and a bridge appeared leading to a vertical staircase with spikes blocking progress at various levels.

They hit the second pair at the same time, and some spikes lowered on the vertical staircase. They hit the third pair, and the last set of spikes were lowered. The fourth pair were hit, and Roy Koopa came crashing down at the top of the vertical staircase. Mario and Luigi high-jumped up to him quickly.

"Ugh! Mario Brothers!" Roy was disgusted, jumping away.

"He's pulling a Ludwig!" Mario cried… but a blue portal appeared. "…or not."

Mario and Luigi waited, and nothing happened. They stepped through the portal, and would have been healed if they weren't at full health. Heading west, then north across two bridges, there was a high up button that Mario and Luigi couldn't reach. They stood on each other and stretched, but Roy came crashing down and knocked the Bro Tower over and initiated battle with them.

"He pulled a Ludwig." Mario realized, groaning.

"Hmph." Roy pulled out a Time Bob-omb with an "8" on it. "Now I pulled a Time Bob-omb, the little runt Iggy made it. It'll end you if you're slow! Grahaha!"

_When the number on the face of the Time Bob-omb reaches zero, it's Game Over for you! Defeat the Koopaling before the number reaches zero!_

"Aw, shoot! Now we have a time limit?!" Mario looked disappointed as they started off with Thunder Bros, per usual, lowering his defence like always. Then they struck Roy hard with Chopper Bros, striking several times before Roy lost his patience.

"Enough of those prissy moves! It's MY turn! Lemme show you what a REAL man can do!" Roy rammed Mario, and stamped him, and hurled him into Luigi, then punched Luigi, then picked them up and smashed them together so hard they swapped clothes, and left them standing to floor them with a few ground-pounds, then pulled out a double-sided Bullet Bill Blaster, and stood between the Bros, shooting them both several times, and ended with a leer at Luigi, lowering his defence, before finally walking back to his spot and letting the Time Bob-omb tick down to seven.

"I know someone out there is curious, so I have to ask, what kind of 'real man' wears pink?" Mario asked. Roy looked at him funny as he was hit by Luigi from below in the form of Thundercut Bros.

"REAL MEN WEAR PINK!" Roy smashed Luigi back into the ground with his burly hands when he stopped flying up, and got ready to stomp him underground with the power of gravity. "Now I'm gonna crush your bro down under! TEN FEET down under!"

Mario winced and pulled Luigi out of there, and they shared an Ultra Nut which filled them HP-wise. Roy ground-pounded, and the Bros jumped over the shockwave, the Time Bob-omb going down to six.

"Now, what about that purple shell? I'm sure someone wants to know about it." Mario asked. "I mean, if real men wear pink, do they also wear purple?"

"Purple equals DEATH!" Roy growled, then getting pummelled by Rally Bros several times. Mario charged up three fireballs, and with the help of Luigi got them ready for Volley Bros, smashing the fireball down to Roy and burning him a bit. Roy withdrew into his shell and tossed himself at the Bros, hitting them both a few times and triggering the Time Bob-omb to go down to five.

Mario and Luigi performed Cyclone-Smash Bros, hitting four times before smashing down on Roy with the finisher, Roy groaning and collapsing, dropping a Bowser Fang.

_Mario levelled up to Level 33! Mario got an extra +5HP!_

Roy disappeared, and Luigi took off the Greed Wallet and put on the Bonus Ring as a barrel dropped down. Luigi was hammered into the ground and popped out into the barrel, walking to the button and allowing Mario to stand on him. Mario hit the button, and they were both elevated up.

Luigi jumped out of the barrel and they jumped down to a lower ledge to the west, getting an Ultra Mushroom. They did the same to the east, getting a jar of Super Syrup. They got another barrel and elevated themselves again, then continued east, deeper into the castle…


	47. The End of the End

**Well, I've just finished this story in advance. An odd feeling, it is.**

* * *

Mario and Luigi - A Superstar Story

Chapter 47: The End of the End

Mario and Luigi walked on a fair bit, and found a door that opened for them and entered it. They jumped up some ledges, and dropped a bit, then headed further west. A Boo and two Hammer Bros ambushed the Bros as they ran for a barrel.

Luigi shocked one of the Hammer Bros, and Mario stomped the same guy out of existence, and did the same with the other Hammer Bro. The Boo swooped at Luigi, holding a yellow block when it returned to its spot after striking the plumber.

"Items are prohibited!" The Boo stated.

"Says who?" Mario asked. "I'm using a random item right now, then!"

Mario pulled out… nothing. He tried to grab something from the suitcase, but it was locked shut. The Boo snickered as Mario sighed, and did Cyclone Bros, hitting the Boo three times.

"Hey, this guy has insanely high defence! We only chip off one bit of damage per hit! We need multi-hit attacks again!"

Mario got the Boo with Chopper Bros, doing thrice the damage they normally did the first time, then got in three more hits before he hit the ground again. The Boo disappeared, then rammed Mario before warping back.

One more round of Cyclone Bros, and the Boo was down, leaving behind some Random Slacks, the slacks coloured red and green in random places.

_Luigi levelled up to Level 33! Luigi got an extra +3POW!_

Another Boo and two Chomp Bros then attacked, the first of the Chomp Bros getting destroyed by just Rally Bros. The other met a similar fate through Burrow Bros. The Boo rammed Luigi. The Boo was stomped for decent damage by both Bros. The Boo rammed Mario.

Mario and Luigi smashed their feet against the Boo once again, the Boo warping in front of Luigi and howling, charging into Luigi and both startling him and hitting him. Luigi yelped and smacked away the Boo, knocking it out and finding some more Random Slacks.

The third and final Boo came into view with a friend Boo, and a sniper, who was taken out quickly with Thundercut Bros. Mario chopped the Boo in the face several times with Chopper Bros, and Mario hurled his hammer at the Boo when it tried to warp in front of Mario, the hammer flying on to the other Boo, stopping it from warping, too.

Luigi stomped the first Boo, and it was defeated with ease. Mario spin-kicked the lone Boo, and watched Luigi get Boo-rolled. After several punches, kicks and headbutts, along with several injuries, the battle was completed, the spoils being Random Slacks and a jar of Ultra Syrup.

Luigi was sent underground, and popped out in the barrel. Barrel Luigi stood in front of the high button on the nearby wall, and Mario used him to hit it, the door opening. The Bros healed up with Mushrooms and jars of Syrups, and moved on through the door.

Mario walked over to a post with a Bowser head with its mouth open, a spot for a fire to burn.

"Can't, reach!" Mario stretched his arm up as he went on tip-toes. He jumped and shot a fireball past the post. He sighed as he fell on his back. "OK, we're getting the BARREL. This is not over, Bowser post lamp thing!"

They brought the barrel. Luigi dropped it by the post. Mario stepped on the barrel, for it to break and for Mario to hurt his back again. Mario re-entered the barrel room, and looked around. The barrel wasn't there.

"Wait for it, bro. Wait for it." Mario said, hammering Luigi underground, and watching him dig (as his hat stuck out a bit) near where they got the barrel. Mario hid by the doorway.

…After a few minutes, a Shy Guy peeked his head in the room. Mario stayed as still as a wall. Luigi was trembling underground, scared as he heard the footsteps of the Shy Guy as it tip-toed into the middle of the room, by Luigi. It slammed the barrel where Luigi was, and slowly backed away. Luigi popped into the barrel, making it leap a bit.

"YAH! LIVING BARREL!" the Shy Guy cried, making a break for the east as Mario ran in, causing the Shy Guy to JPS (Jump, Point and Scream), stopping his sprint. "YAH! S-S-SUPER M-M-M-M-M-MARIO! NO! YOU'RE NOT MEANT TO SEE ME RESPAWNING BARRELS! IT'S NOT IN THE SCRIPT! NO! I'VE BROKEN THE FORUTH WALL! FEELING FAINT, NEED AIR, MUST ESCAPE IMPENDING DOOM, ACK! THE WORLD! IT'S CHOKING ME! I MUST FLEE, FLEE, FLEE!"

To describe how fast the Shy Guy ran out of the room is a near-impossible feat, but I'll try to give you an idea. Say… something fast eats something fast while wearing something that makes things faster after drinking stuff that makes things faster on a fast treadmill going with the thing while hyperized by candy while running fast, and multiply the speed of that happening by the amount of steps the Bros have walked in this story including off-page events and quadruple that number tripled then doubled, then slap on a few 0s on the end, and then you're in the league of one hundredth of that speed.

ANYWAY, needless to say, the Bros had their barrel, and were fine with that as they hustled north. They stood before the left post, and Mario stepped on Barrel Luigi, him holding up just fine as Mario shot a fireball down the open mouth of the Bowser post and ignited it. They did the same with the other post, and the door opened, Luigi breaking out of the barrel now.

Heading north, there were spiked rolling logs. Mario froze up after a surprise jolt from Luigi, and they got in line with the logs, making it to the northeast, where there was a buncha rocks. Mario made quick work of them, and hit a switch at the end. The rolling logs did a U-turn and started going the other way.

Luigi then did the jolting thing and got them to the northwest, where they got an Ultra Mushroom and Ultra Syrup. They headed through the door, high-jumped up and down a ledge, then saw Wendy 'O Koopa stick out of the west pipe of three.

"Ugh! It's those revolting Mario Brothers!" Wendy was disgusted as Mario ran over to bonk her with his hammer, and she went back in, popping out in the east one, causing Mario to jog over to that pipe. "Don't you DARE hit me! I just had my eyeliner done!"

Mario tried to bash her, but she ducked in before he could, and appeared by the west pipe.

"Luigi, stop messing with that gate! C'mon and hit her with your hammer!" Mario said as Luigi walked over to the west pipe. He bashed her in, and she popped up by the east pipe. Mario bashed her back in.

"ARGH! I WILL **DESTROY **YOU!" Wendy growled, jumping out of the middle pipe and charging at the reuniting Bros.

"I feel like we just skipped an important puzzle." Luigi shivered. "You know, like we sequence-broke something in this room."

"Ah, it's nothing." Mario shrugged off the odd comment.

Wendy pulled out a Time Bob-omb with an eight on it. She set it down, and got ready for battle. Mario and Luigi got ready for Thunder Bros.

"Oh, don't even TRY. I'm immune to the barbaric art of defense-dropping." Wendy stated. "Try at your own will."

Instead, Wendy was hit by Thundercut Bros, stuttering back, shocked (oho!) they tried such a move, but hardly faltering as she winced in pain.

"Hey! She's not even lowering her guard slightly! She's immune to attack dropping too!" Mario gasped.

"You APES should also know I'm immune to the even more barbaric art of attack-dropping." Wendy stated sharply as her Max Nuts were snagged through use of Snag Bros. Wendy sent out a pair of yellow rings hovering above the ground at the Bros, and they jumped over them as they were now surrounded by one each.

Wendy sent her hand forward as she started grinning devilishly. The rings closed in on Mario and Luigi, and they were clamped into two balls of their respective colours. Eventually they recovered, but the effects of the clamping remained, and they were weighed down as they continued to fight.

"Haha! Do you feel the weight of my beautiful rings?" Wendy was pleased as both Bros' legs wobbled as she was heavily pelted by a shaky Knockback Bros after the Time Bob-omb went down to seven.

"Ha! We're heavier, so the impact of me as a ball would be even greater!" Mario taunted as he uncurled. "We used your trick against you!"

"HOW **DARE** YOU DO SUCH A THING?!" Wendy was annoyed as she blasted Mario with her Magic Sceptre, sending him tumbling back. Wendy then started approaching Luigi, as if she was getting ready to shoot him with some rings, but she was hit by a fireball from nowhere, and she stuttered back in shock, and gave the Mario holding a smoking hand the evil eye.

She then held up her sceptre, and it started snowing like crazy, the place soon becoming like a snowy wonderland. Luigi was instantly frozen, and took some damage. Wendy put on some skates, and skated into Luigi, breaking him out and damaging him further, her then spinning into Mario and smashing him further back.

Mario stumbled to his feet and she kicked the Time Bob-omb.

"COUNT DOWN FASTER, YOU STUPID THING!" Wendy ordered. The poor thing jumped and went down to two. Mario was startled, and the Bros quickly scrambled into position for Burrow Bros. Wendy split into four, and grinned.

"You won't have enough time to defeat all FOUR of us!" Wendy stated, the north one to be precise.

"She's pulled a Lemmy!" Mario pointed out.

"LIKE I would rip off such a spoilt brat, dumbbell." Wendy said with distain. "Don't you have anything in those idiotic heads of yours? It's OBVIOUS you have things backwards."

"Yeah, right." Mario said as they struck her with Burrow Bros, knocking her off her feet, defeating her. She started bawling.

"I'M TELLING DADDY ON YOU!" Wendy cried as she got up and ran off, a fountain of tears being left behind. A blue portal appeared. Mario and Luigi shrugged off the events of that battle and hopped through it, getting healed as they landed before some new purple platforms.

The duo high-jumped up the platforms, and Luigi zapped up an electric orb, charging it up and causing a platform to appear in the middle of one large pit. They spin-jumped over to it, and stood on the end of it as a Boo appeared, spin-jumping to the other side and escaping its wrath only to get into the crossfire of a pair of Magikoopas and a Chomp Bro.

The usual Thunder Bros was done at the start of the brawl, and due to that attack the first Magikoopa was down and out with a Burrow Bros. Luigi was hit in the face by a Chain Chomp, and Mario watched the Chomp Bro get resupplied. Mario was then burned by a fire ring from the side, Luigi jumping through it.

A Cyclone Bros took out the other Magikoopa, and a Drill Bros finished the Chomp Bro. A pair of Hammer Bros and a Boo ambushed them after Mario and Luigi had finished them, and they had to deal with this wave of enemies too.

Needless to say, the Bros took some hits and kicks, but came out on top with the help of some Bros Moves, and procured another pair of Random Slacks. They headed through a nearby door that once again opened for them, and crossed a bridge to an activation block and a red gate... with a lot of rock blockades in a line. Mario bashed it, and the gate raised.

Mario burned Luigi, and he yelped as he tugged Mario along, smashing through the rock walls in the way to the other side. They blasted their way to the end, and Luigi bashed the block, the fire gone now, and the door opened.

In the next room, Luigi hammered Mario to half his size as there was a hole just for him in the middle of some steel panels. Mario ran north. Luigi walked to the east a bit, then headed north into the next area with Mario, just separated.

Mario had jumped up some ledges, and stepped on a yellow platform. Luigi caught up on the lower level, and bashed it, pushing him up on to another yellow platform, which he bashed too, sending him on to a third platform, which was bashed and Mario was hurled up into an activation block.

"Hey! A bridge appeared!" Luigi pointed back to first room of this puzzle, where a bridge appeared allowing Luigi and Mario to meet up. As stated before, they met up on the bridge, and Luigi un-shrunk Mario. They headed north Mario's route, and high-jumped up to where the block was, and beyond after they realized they could go further.

Through the door they landed beside after one extra high-jump, they hopped up some ledges, dropped down, crossed a black bridge and approached another red gate on softer purple ground. Mario sent Luigi under, and he continued north, hopped over a ledge to the east and saw Larry Koopa on another strip of land parallel from him.

There was a Bob-omb flying behind him, and he turned around to see what that propeller sound was, but a barrel fell over him, and he peeked through the hole in the barrel. Larry had a tennis racket, and a fireball was flying towards him. Things looked bad.

"Time for a game of tennis, Koopa-style!" Larry shouted.

Luigi was hit head-on by the barrel, and the fireball didn't burn the wood, instead, it was bounced right towards Larry on the other side. He smacked it back with the racket, and Luigi ran into the shot leaning to Larry's left. He dived and it bounced towards Larry. The fireball was out of range and it was flying towards the flying Bob-omb.

"DO A BARREL ROLL!" cried Mario with his mouth full of popcorn (as he was holding a box of the stuff) behind the gate, who was apparently watching intently. Luigi did a barrel roll, and he rolled over to in front of the flying Bob-omb, and the fireball was blasted back at Larry at an incredible speed.

"HUH?" Larry's face scrunched up, looking way less friendly as Larry was sent rolling backwards, his face now showing his rage as a bridge luckily appeared behind him just in time for him to roll on to it, and further north. The red gate went down, and Mario broke Luigi out of the barrel after he threw away his box of popcorn.

"Well, that was a fine game of tennis." Mario chuckled as they ran in pursuit of Larry via a purple bridge to Larry's side of the tennis field that had appeared moments ago. A high-jump and he was cornered. Mario and Luigi gulped down some healing items, and approached Larry, the final Koopaling.

He pulled out a Time Bob-omb and smacked it with his racket, sending it rolling over to the Bros. It had an eight on it.

Mario sighed in relief that it didn't drop to two or something, and they did their usual Thunder Bros at the start of the battle thing. They then snagged some Max Mushrooms from him in the form of Snag Bros, and watched Larry's scowl deepen like a shovel pushed into the soft soil.

Luigi was approached, and Larry shot a fireball at an arc at Luigi. Luigi raised his hammer, but Larry raised his tennis racket in such a menacing fashion that Luigi got cold feet about smacking it back that he was burned.

Down to seven, the clock ticked as Larry was struck by Knockback Bros. Mario came flying out of nowhere afterwards and got ready to stamp Larry in the face, but Larry swatted him out of the sky like someone would with a fly, the attack failing horribly.

Larry tripped over when he tried to blast Luigi, and hurt his knee. Mario burst into laughter as he finally hit the ground, then proceeding to roll about. Luigi used this moment of weakness to smack back an incoming fireball at the exposed Larry. The Koopaling got up, and shot one at the exposed Mario.

"The cruel irony of that…" Luigi trailed. Mario looked at him as he was hit by a fireball. Irony was even crueller as Luigi was hit by a fireball. Luigi smashed the other back at Larry, though, and the clock hit six.

Luigi sniped him with a ball of electricity, getting him RIGHT in the weak spot… wherever that was, but either way, it did a ton of unexpected damage. Mario ran up to Larry with his hammer and proceeded to bonk him, but he was countered with a racket. Mario and Larry sword-fought, hammer and racket, and it looked even.

Mario got in a low blow, Larry snuck in a backhand. Mario managed to smash the toes. Larry got to stab Mario's stomach. Larry tried to do a sweeping movement, but Mario jumped and smashed Larry to the floor with an overhead bonk. The Koopaling was apparently tamed by this blow, as he wasn't moving after it.

_Mario levelled up to Level 34! Mario got an extra +5POW!_

_Luigi levelled up to Level 34! Luigi got an extra +5POW!_

Larry disappeared, like the others, and a portal appeared. The duo entered it, getting healed, and begun the last stretch of the last stretch of their adventure…

* * *

**The End saga is apparently 9665 words long, if anyone wanted to know. You know, the past three chapters' word count in total.**


	48. The Fury of Fawful

**Hm, this story is on the verge of ending now. Seriously, it's exciting and sad at the same time. The finale's next, after this, by the way. **

* * *

Mario and Luigi - A Superstar Story

Chapter 48: The Fury of Fawful

Over the lowered spikes, and up the purple staircase of platforms, and then up the gray staircase of ledges, the Mario Bros went with great haste. Ultra Mushroom and Ultra Nut were gained, the spoils of two blocks to the optional west. North across the bridge they ran, and in a a donut-shaped arena (yes, with the hole in the middle) in the lava.

Mario split left around the hole, Luigi right around the hole. They met up at the middle, and skidded to a stop when there was no bridge onwards at the northernmost point.

A half-sphere that resembled Fawful's head shot out of the hole in the middle of the lava, and the hole was closed by some sliding floors that were also purple like the ring around it.

The half-sphere opened up from the middle, the two halves keeping it a circular shape retracting into the floor of it, revealing Fawful.

"I have fury! Fury be had! The fury has Fawful!" Fawful shouted on his yellow stage-like platform. "At last, my entrance with drama! Finally! Now is the time where my true might shines, like many angry sunbeams of rage!"

. . .

Spotlights shined on Fawful, covered in pink and yellow garb.

"St-Standing in the spotlight at such a gala of spectacularity… my nerves are nervous!" Fawful thought. "But… Now that I am having the thinking… Cackletta's revival was all thanks to my efforts' nastiness!"

The spotlights ascended out of the area with the two Lakitus.

"Which means that all this time, I am Fawful, who is just a toady! Such working, all for others!"

. . .

Fawful was still in the garb as the black surroundings faded away as his speech approached its end. Mario and Luigi were watching him, not showing any sign of emotion, if there was even any supposed to be shown.

"And THAT means…" Fawful continued. "The meaning of the true variety of our battle gives me the fear and the confusion! I have not the needing of a speech who is long before this battle, which will now be having the mighty! Snack on my wrath, fink-rats!"

A yellow antenna with a green neck poked out of the top of Fawful's head, and it shot out yellow energy blasts up into the sky. Mario pointed up at the shots from above, them about to hit the Bros.

They ran rings around Fawful as they barely escaped the blast radius of the falling blasts. Soon, they were on the west side as the last of the blasts missed. Mario and Luigi lunged into battle with Fawful.

"I have the fire of the covering variety!" Fawful shouted, the dome-shaped machine becoming a dome-shape once more as Fawful was covered and safe from attacks inside. Moments after, the black circle on the top of the mecha opened up, and yellow blasts shot out of it, raining down on the Bros (as the black circle closed again after the last of the blasts came out).

Mario and Luigi held up their hammers, and hammered back the incoming blasts with ease as there was a short pause between every blast and the indication of a large black shadow which shots were coming at which bro. The counterattacked blasts did nothing to the strong armour of the Fawful Head Mecha, sadly.

"My face is having the laughing at your attempts of foolishness!" Fawful taunted as Luigi tried zapping the Mecha. "What a wasting!"

Mario grumbled something and smashed the Mecha as hard as he could with his hammer, and there was a loud "ting" sound for a moment, and the sound shot up into Mario's body and sent him vibrating back over to Luigi, his attempt at damage failing.

"Rat-fink! **Try as you might**, the resulting will be the same!" Fawful stated as the dome uncovered itself and Fawful was now exposed, a blast from his antenna ready to fire. Fawful fired like he did earlier, and the two shots rained down on the Bros this time, both of them hitting their mark.

Mario ran towards the Mecha to get in a quick attack, but the Mecha closed itself again, and the "eyes" started charging up energy, and purple waves were shot out from the eyes, the two waves spreading to the two sides, and both of them shooting the Bros and winding them.

"Ooog!" Mario groaned, falling to the floor from the sudden pain.

"Wah!" Luigi yelped as he fell backwards.

"You fink-rats fall like the leaves of a tree that has succumbed to the mustard of doom!" Fawful shouted from inside the Mecha as the Bros got up. Luigi stomped the Mecha, but it wasn't effective. Mario blasted the Mecha with a ball of fire.

"You have annoying persistence! And now you eat this!" the Mecha started spinning as five purple balls of light circled the Mecha, skimming both Mario and Luigi at one point during the revolution. Mario smashed one with his hammer, causing it to disappear. Luigi followed Mario's lead and smashed another, and another in quick succession.

Mario was hit by one of the balls, getting sent into a spin by the speed it smashed him. The ball pierced through Mario and struck Luigi, too, as did the one after it, though they both disappeared after hitting Luigi. The third remaining ball struck Mario just when he shook off the daze the balls brought, and it disappeared upon contact, the Mecha stopping the spinning.

"Hey! It must have gotten hot in there!"

The Mecha started glowing red, and it opened up, a sweating Fawful flapping into the air, barely staying in mid-air.

"**Ouch! HOTNESS! ****_It is the overheat!_**" Fawful cried, exposed to attacks. Luigi smashed Mario into a ball and clonked him at Fawful, causing him to do a mid-air flip, dodging the attack altogether. Mario's jaw dropped as he bounced on the floor, uncurling and running back to Luigi.

"He's… AERODYNAMIC!" Luigi gasped. "We need to knock him out of the sky!"

Mario grabbed Luigi and started spinning him. He chucked Luigi at Fawful at max speed, the impact knocking him on to the base of his Mecha. Luigi ran up to him before he got back in the air to continue cooling, and stomped him, before Fawful pointed his antenna at him to get him to back off before flapping in the air once more.

Mario did a flip, and smashed Fawful back on to the base of the Mecha with some fancy jumping attack, it closing again and shooting out the wave beam through its "eyes" as Mario slid off the front of it, groaning as he had plopped on to the top of the hard surface with a great force.

Due to the plumber being right between the spot under the eyes, he wasn't even possible to hit, while his poor brother was struck three times by the wave beams, each hit giving him an even worse headache as the impact vibrated in his head for moments afterward.

"My head is spinning!" Luigi cried, jumping on to the floor where he stood moments ago, this being a failed attempt at stomping the dome Mecha.

"I have chortles at your pathetic excuse for a jump!" Fawful chortled as Mario hurled another fireball at the Mecha. "Rat-fink! **Try as you might**, the resulting will be the same!"

Two black blocks appeared above Mario and Luigi. Fawful started charging up something. Mario and Luigi bashed the black blocks rapidly to get some jumping room, and were able to destroy them just as Fawful fired a blue beam that moved back and forth. Mario and Luigi simply stepped out of the way of the beam.

The covering went back on. Luigi shared a Super Nut with Mario as he burned the Mecha. Fawful came shooting out of the Mecha and glided into Luigi, sending him into the air and the plumber landed flat on his face. Fawful did this again to Luigi, and they then dodged several of more wave beams when Fawful went back inside his Mecha.

"This guy hits hard!" Mario groaned, burning the Mecha as Luigi shared another Super Nut with him. The Mecha opened up. Fawful shot two shots into the sky, Mario spiking the first one back at Fawful, hitting him just as the second shot hit him. Fawful then did the wave beam on the Bros again as the machine closed up again.

Mario back-flipped out of the way of the first crossfire, Luigi ducking under it. Mario then rolled under one wavebeam of the second crossfire, getting struck by the other. Luigi still ducking under both. The third crossfire aimed low, however, and got both Mario and Luigi.

The eyes of the Mecha then started charging up, a light glowing in both of them. They turned blue. The right eye flashed green, the left flashed red, and two beams, one green, and one red, came shooting out. The red beam was heading straight for Luigi, and the green beam was heading for Mario.

Luigi leaped over the red beam, and Mario ducked as it aimed high. Then the left eye flashed green, and the right flashed blue. Then a green beam shot out of the left eye at Luigi, and the plumber quivered in fear as the shot missed him as it was aimed high.

"So left eye aims for you, bro, and the right eye aims for me." Mario realized, deducing the attack pattern with the beam attack. "If an eye flashes red, it's aiming low so we'll need to jump. If it flashes green, then it's aiming high so we can idle or duck. If it's aiming blue, though, it won't fire at all. Talk about in-depth!"

"Impression has Fawful! You fink-rats are having normally the improbably small brain of a Bumpty detective who is stupid!" Fawful shouted. "But noticing have you this?!"

Both eyes flashed yellow, dumbfounding Mario and Luigi, and two yellow balls shot out of the eyes, floating towards the Bros from the front. Then Mario had a realization.

"Oh, HAMMER TIME!" Mario hammered the yellow ball of light aimed for him back at the Mecha, causing it to turn red. Luigi followed Mario's lead and hammered the apparently hot ball of light aimed for him back at Fawful's Mecha, causing it to turn a deep shade of red, yet Fawful stayed inside.

"So if an eye flashes yellow, we have to hammer it back. Got it." Mario noted.

"Fawful is having the leaking, like a toilet that has not been expertly plumbed!" Fawful groaned, not opening up yet because he knew it would end him if he did. The Mecha's left eye turned red, and the right turned yellow. Luigi yelped as he was beamed in the face and sent rolling back.

"Fawful is having the beaming in a fashion ironic and literal, like a child given money of the bonus for the pockets, at your pain crying!" Fawful chortled, but not for long as Mario hammered the yellow ball of light heading for him into the Mecha, turning it an even deeper shade of red.

The eyes both went yellow, but Mario failed to hit the ball of light coming for him, and it exploded on him, sending him rolling and giving him burn status. Luigi hammered the ball of light coming for him, though, and the Mecha was nearly at boiling point. The left eye went blue, the other green. Luigi idled, Mario ducked.

The left eye went green, the other yellow. Luigi ducked, Mario hammered, and the ball of light boiled the Mecha, causing Fawful to cry out and the Mecha opened so Fawful could cool down, flapping in the air once again. Luigi gave Mario a Refreshing Herb, and Mario shared a Super Nut between them as the above played out.

Then for once, Bounce Bros was done to start the period where they heavily damaged Fawful. Then Mario and Luigi managed to snag some 1-UP Supers through use of Snag Bros as Fawful cried out.

"Agh-agh-agh!" Fawful cried, now defeated as he slowed down his flapping, and slowly then quickly (at a gradual rate) hit the base of his Mecha and the sliding floors opened up again below it as it now floated.

"Urggh… Unless my mind is crazy, I have somehow managed to lose… This must be… fate… Urrrgh… I must accept the defeating…" Fawful zapped Mario with a swift shot, causing Luigi to cower and Mario to look as if Luigi jolted him as Fawful stood up. "I have fury!"

"Mario!" Luigi cried.

"Hah! Now taste the finale, when carelessness opens the door to a comeback not expected by you!" Fawful barked, having all of the fury. "Your lives that I spit on are now the caricature of a cartoon drawn by a kid who is stupid! You shall all fall and vanish with your precious Beanbean Kingdom as I heartily laugh at you!"

Prince Peasley descended on the scene on that blue pillow, and back-slashed Fawful on to the east part of the purple donut-shaped arena, him plopping on the ground there like he once was on the base of his Mecha.

"HAH! In the finale of the finale, when negligence begets rashness, the comeback is come-back upon!" Prince Peasley said, then chuckling as Fawful shot a slow sneaky shot at Prince Peasley, it hitting him during his laugh. "Ah heh heh heh heh heh! EE-YOUCH!"

"I have fury!" Fawful said, standing on the north part of the donut arena now as Prince Peasley was in the same state as Mario. "In the last moments of the finale of the finale, when relief leads to negligence that begets rashness… That is when the comeback that faltered comes back and beats your pathetic comeback that I scoff at!"

Mario shook off the shocking, ran towards Fawful, leaped over him and gave him one powerful blow on the head from above and smashing him underground and likely knocking him out in a flurry of movements.

Luigi, no longer scared, looked at the green thing sticking out, the top of Fawful's head. Then Fawful jumped out and tried to charge up a shot, but Luigi had his hammer ready and smashed him like a baseball, out of the mouth of the castle and towards who-knows-where.

"Out of the park!" Mario shouted. "NEW RECORD!"

. . .

"It looks like I am indebted to you once again. So, farewell!" Prince Peasley stated as he flew off on the blue pillow towards a wall, and poked a button with his sword, causing a bridge of purple platforms to appear at the northernmost spot of the donut arena, allowing the Bros to proceed, them nodding in thanks. "Think of that as my parting gift! Trek on, Mario Bros!"

And thus he was gone. Mario and Luigi noticed a small present beside them. There was a letter on it.

_Think of this as my other parting gift! Good luck!  
Prince Peasley_

Inside were two Golden Mushrooms, a 1-UP Super, two Max Syrups, two Max Nuts and two Max Mushrooms, along with a small box of Refreshing Herbs. They devoured the Golden Mushrooms, being fully healed and put the other items in their suitcase.

"That was incredibly nice of him." Mario said as they crossed the bridge and went through the door. "And there's a lot of doors in this castle…"

"You said it, bro." Luigi agreed.

An Ultra Mushroom and a jar of Ultra Syrup were looted from the two blocks they saw on their ascent up several ledges to a grand red door. Mario put on the Excite Springs and took the Greed Wallet off, and Luigi put on the Power Grip instead of the Bonus Ring.

"In a way, these cover our non-strengths." Mario realized. "I'm good at holding a hammer up, but you stay in the air longer than me with your fluttering, and you're good at staying in the air, but I can hold my hammer longer than you."

"Huh, then these really are the perfect items for us." Luigi said, stopping before the door, like Mario did.

"So, this will all end when we go through this door." Mario stated, knowing this from all the times he and Luigi went through this door to see Bowser on his throne with Peach tied up.

"That's a relief to know." Luigi sighed, glad to hear things were reaching the end. "Let's go!"

Luigi was now waiting for Mario to lead. Mario hesitated, but led his brother through the door to their final battle…


	49. The End of an Adventure

**For the record, I may refer to Bowletta as male, female and just plain old "it" or "they" during this chapter. I don't really know WHAT to refer to him or it or her as, so blame that. :P**

* * *

Mario and Luigi - A Superstar Story

**(Finale P1) **Chapter 49: The End of an Adventure

Mario and Luigi hopped up the ledges to the throne, and stood firm before Bowletta, who was sitting on it.

"You've done well to make it here!" Bowletta praised, her face resting on her right arm as she talked. "I should have expected as much from the superstars of the Mushroom Kingdom!"

Bowletta hopped off her throne, then twitching.

"Uh... when did I get back in my castle?" Bowletta asked. "Why do you two look like you're about to attack me? Aren't you supposed to be saving Peach so I can kidnap her?"

Mario looked at Bowletta in a dumbfounded fashion, until he froze up again. Luigi opened his mouth to say something, but Bowletta started moving again.

"I'm in control, nincompoop! There, now stay in that corner of your mind!" Bowletta ordered to... itself. Mario and Luigi were further confused. "Now, where was I? Ah, yes... You've done well to make it here! I should have expected as much from the superstars of the Mushroom Kingdom!"

"Unfortunately for you, those who desire to disrupt my plans have very short futures with foul ends… and I don't mean the bird!" Bowletta got some confused stares. "Anyway, after conquering the Beanbean Kingdom, I intend to make the Mushroom Kingdom mine as well!"

Bowletta started firing powerful balls of fire throughout the room as the Bros yelped.

"My new country has no need for old superstars!" Bowletta said with fire between her teeth. "It will do just fine with only one: the Great Bowletta!"

"Get ready, Luigi!" Mario warned as Bowletta shot immense lines of fire at both diagonals facing the Bros, and finally aimed at them the third time, Mario and Luigi jumping out of the way as their final battle begun.

Luigi looked at their foe. Bowletta looked so menacing, her teeth were enormous, those eyes were pink and seemed to strike fear into the heart of the poor guy, not to mention how large that shell was and those super-pointy spikes. Luigi shuddered at the thought of even approaching such a foul creature to such a rash attack such as a hammer blow.

Yet Mario seemed set on having him try just that. Luigi made small steps towards Bowletta, then closed his eyes as his hammer connected one of the two circles on Bowletta's chest. She hardly looked fazed as she opened her mouth to blast him with fire. He yelped, unable to get away in time.

Mario thought fast, and stomped Bowletta on the head, stopping the charging of the fire as Luigi scrambled away from Bowletta. Her eyes flashed yellow, and two blue blocks with spikes on the sides appeared, along with shackles that kept the Bros in the same spot. Bowletta started charging up a fire blast.

Mario and Luigi bashed the blocks rapidly, but only Luigi's block and shackles disappeared in time as he was jumping more often. Bowletta finished charging, and blasted a beam of fire that stretched the height of her.

Luigi was able to dive out of the way safely, and Mario tried to run out of the way, but the shackles kept him in the same spot so therefore he had to brave the inferno of an attack.

"How about we try Rally Bros and hope she doesn't eat me during the attack?" Mario suggested.

"I dunno, that is one big mouth, and she does seem relentless… well, at the very least, you're durable and it isn't me getting smashed at her. I'm on board with this plan." Luigi said, smashing Mario into a ball and smashing him at Bowletta.

The ball of plumber striking Bowletta in the face hard, and Luigi jumped and smashed Mario down on to Bowletta's face a second time, the monster not being smart and malicious by opening her mouth and gulping Mario down in one bite. Mario uncurled as he flew back to Luigi's side, spinning so his feet touched the ground and skidded across to a smooth stop.

Mario and Luigi charged up a five-fireball strong Volley Bros and spiked it at Bowletta, and she just opened her mouth and let the spiked fireball fly into her mouth and heal her by quite a bit. Bowletta charged up her fire blast, and pelted Mario with shots while prepping some balls of fire (actually called Flarets) that hovered aimlessly between the fighters.

"Those balls of fire are so provoking!" Mario stated. "But Bowletta has the higher priority for now…"

Luigi tossed Mario a Super Mushroom to fill his HP again, and struck Bowletta with Burrow Bros twice. One of the Flarets flew into Bowletta's mouth, and she was healed a bit. Bowletta shot a beam of fire at Mario and Luigi, them escaping the blue blocks and shackles that had appeared beforehand, and the Bros were able to dodge the attack with a lunge each.

The Flarets were obliterated by the devastating attack, and Bowletta was then struck by Thundercut Bros and Chopper Bros. Bowletta chomped on just air, and shot blasts of fire randomly, spawning three Flarets and hitting Luigi thrice, Mario twice by the end of it. Bowletta then jumped high into the air above Mario, spun, and tried to ground-pound Mario. Mario held up his hammer and hammered away Bowletta just before he was pancaked. Bowletta was sent flying back and landed on her back.

"She tried to pancake me…"

"She really is relentless!" Luigi winced at the thought of that attack succeeding as they did Thunder Bros, the Flarets not being effected, and in fact getting healed, this being evident by the balls of fire growing a bit.

"Well, that's one way not attack those things." Mario noted. "And I find it weird how the final boss of our adventure can get their attack AND defense lowered. You'd think they'd be better than that, considering Wendy was immune to one of those stat drops."

Bowletta glared at Mario, the clear wanting of death in her eyes. Mario trembled a bit, but came at her with Swing Bros. One of the Flarets were eaten by Bowletta, and she was healed further. Bowletta then turned a volcanic shade of black, parts of her body glowing as if they would if they glowed in the dark.

"I'm not going to lie, that looks pretty cool." Mario admitted. Stars came rising out of nowhere around Bowletta, and they fell as massive ones at the Bros, Bowletta roaring to 'cause them to do the latter.

The blue ones just missed, but the green ones seemed to aim for Luigi, and the red ones for Mario. Luigi batted away the green meteor star and it went right back to sender, hitting her in the face. Mario did the same when a red came for him. Luigi was so dazzled by the impact of a nearby blue star, that a green one clonked him in the face.

"Ow! Meteors hurt!"

Mario and Luigi smacked another red and green meteor star back at Bowletta, but then Luigi was hit by one, and the last one, a blue meteor star blew up as it landed between the two Bros, knocking them off their feet. Somehow the Flarets had braved this shooting star mishap, and Bowletta's darker skin palette wore off, and she reverted to her normal colours, looking defeated.

"GAHH!" she cried, the Flarets blowing up. Mario and Luigi did a spin in victory. "NO! Cursed Mario Bros! Not again…"

"Yahoo!" Mario cheered, high-fiving Luigi. "We did it!"

_Tick._

"Wait…" Luigi looked at the Time Bob-omb behind them. It had a rectangle with the vertical sides being the longer sides on its screen. That… was a zero. Mario and Luigi shared a look of worry as they recalled what the thing was with these things.

_When the number on the face of the Time Bob-omb reaches zero, it's Game Over for you! Defeat the Koopaling before the number reaches zero!_

"Uh oh." The Bros said in unison.

The Time Bob-omb started flashing, and blew up on Mario and Luigi. They spun in pain, and collapsed. Bowletta stopped putting on the act trying to look like she was in pain, and cackled.

"EEYAH HA HA!" Bowletta cackled. "Fools! You let your guards down! Even with all your fancy attacks, you can't beat me!"

Bowletta jumped closer towards the Bros.

"Farewell, you two losers! It's time you took a nice, relaxing break… **in my belly!**" Bowletta inhaled Mario and Luigi, allowing them to take anything but a relaxing break, plunging them into the depths of her stomach… and into darkness as they fell unconscious.

* * *

**So, the finale is two parts. This and the next. Luckily for you, I'll be posting them on the same day... with a few hours notice, of course. So grab some popcorn and sit tight, this story's ending in a few hours!**


	50. Bowletta's Inside Story

Mario and Luigi - A Superstar Story

**(Finale P2) **Chapter 50: Bowletta's Inside Story

"Ugh…" Mario groaned, sitting up after that near-defeat experience on some green ground. There were raging flames to the north and south past bone-like fences, and past the flames were statues of what seemed to be Bowser faces. Then there was some red walling past that. "Where am I?"

He then noticed someone. A green body lying on the floor. Mario had a closer look, crawling over.

"Mamma mia!" Luigi was on the floor, and he didn't appear to be moving. "Luigi?!"

No response. Mario shook his brother. Luigi didn't even move. Mario stumbled to his feet, and pulled out a 1-UP Super. He st-

"Are you still conscious? Ugh… You're a persistent plumber!" a voice from behind growled, the source of it realizing what Mario was trying to do. "You're trying to revive him? I can't have that! I shall dispose of you quickly, and then eat you for lunch!"

Mario whirled around to see Cackletta… or at least her soul in the image of her glaring at him, though her eyes were a bit cross-eyed. She had two hands extending out of the puff of smoke that was supposed to be her chest, and there was a red thing being half-hidden in it. Just below that was the spirit-like tail that genies and spirits alike have, and she had a snake-like tongue with spiked teeth.

Her eyes had yellow as the background, and her pupils were purple, surrounding them both a white circle. She still had those two horn-like things on her head, too, and in general, she was purple.

Mario had stuffed the 1-UP Super into Luigi's mouth, and his brother who leaped to his feet quivered at the sight of Cackletta's Soul (who we will now refer to as Cackletta). Mario shook Luigi into shape.

"Don't go jelly on me! We need to take down this vile creature to end all of this! Go for the arms!" Mario said. "Wait, first, heal me."

Luigi shared a Max Nut with him. Mario nodded in thanks, and blasted Cackletta's right arm, destroying it. Her left arm flashed red, boosting its power, and it snapped itself, two fire bars snaking into the scene and going clockwise then anti-clockwise as they tried to hit the Bros who were jumping over them.

"Keep dodging them, Luigi!"

They stopped mid-way in a turn, getting the Bros off-guard and causing them to jump too early, so the fire bars snaked into a bro each, and left merrily, glad to do some damage. Luigi zapped the left arm out of existence before it could do anything else, and like Mario, his element seemed super effective against this arm.

Mario and Luigi ten shared a Super Nut as Cackletta charged up a growing blue ball of light, and shot it over at Mario when it was her size. Mario hammered the ball upwards when it was in reach, but it didn't blow up upon being counterattacked, and instead turned white, but got a bit slower.

"The ball has multiple layers?" Luigi asked.

"Apparently." Mario said, hammering it back up again and turning it yellow and smaller. He hammered it back up again, turning it red. "This is really getting annoying!"

Mario hammered it a fourth time, and it finally blew up, the plumber escaping damage. Mario and Luigi attacked the head of Cackletta with Thundercut Bros, the attack doing a fair bit of damage on her. Mario looked at Cackletta. She glared at him.

"Huh, she doesn't look like she's gonna hold back, and it doesn't look like she looks any weaker. So no attack-drop." Mario noted. "And I don't think Thunder Bros can even hit her."

Mario chopped Cackletta to bits with Chopper Bros, and all was left was the puff of smoke that was her chest. Then her red heart bulged out, exposed.

"That's Cackletta's heart!" Luigi gasped.

"Let's destroy it!" Mario said, pulling out his hammer… and ran at the heart, only for both Cackletta's arms to appear out of nowhere and flick him away like a bug. Her head appeared, too.

Cackletta shot up a ball of light at Luigi, and he hammered it in the air much like Mario did, managing to destroy it in four hits. Cackletta's arms stretched towards Mario and Luigi, one arm for each bro, and they tried to flick them.

Mario hammered the arm in front of him before that happened, and Luigi dodged the flicking, and counter-smashed.

"The nerve! Trying to flick us!" Mario was offended as Luigi glanced at him, however, Cackletta was not done, and flicked both Bros while they were busy being offended.

"So, what's first on our agenda? The arms or the heart?" Luigi asked. "If we go for the heart, we'll manage to do permanent damage and get closer to beating Cackletta, most likely. But if we can't finish her off in time, I bet she's gonna cover up her heart again, and beat us up."

"If we go for the arms, we'll take less punishment, but do less permanent damage and won't get closer to beating Cackletta overall, most likely, as that'll take up some time that could be spent attacking the heart." Luigi finished.

"Well, we should probably go for the safe route, and attack the arms. That and I want payback for how they flicked me." Mario admitted as he burned the right arm as Luigi zapped the left.

"It's a relief these arms are weak to our hand powers, they'd be a pain to fight otherwise, with all that flicking. My head's still spinning from that." Luigi groaned, stumbling away from the arm he just destroyed. Cackletta shot up another large blue ball at Mario, and he hammered it to bits after four hits. The hands reappeared and flicked the Bros three times.

"These hands are a pain! They re-spawned after we just destroyed them! Let's not waste time and aim for the heart!" Mario decided as they did Rally Bros, smashing Cackletta's heart four times with great force, and kept the heat on the heart with Swing Bros.

After getting Cackletta's head was healed by her exposed heart, her left arm sent in the two fire snakes again, and they snaked around in circles, trying to hit the Bros. Mario slipped, and one of the fire snakes got their wish, and they both snaked off for now. The heart healed the arms and head, then retracted back into her chest.

"Darn it! It's gone now!" Mario shook his fist in frustration. He looked at Luigi, and sighed. "Let's get rid of those hands again."

Luigi nodded, and they destroyed an arm each. Cackletta shot out a ball of light at Luigi, and he managed to stop the attack as they did before. Luigi then stomped Cackletta's head, and it felt like he just stomped a cloud.

Luigi was healed a bit. Splash Bros was done, and another big ball of light was nearly stopped. Mario had only managed to hit it three times before it got low enough to the point he couldn't take a swing at it. Mario was floored by the explosion, and Cackletta cackled. Luigi chucked Mario a Super Mushroom, and Mario lightly stomped Cackletta, who charged up another ball of light.

"Do some new attack, already!" Mario complained, bored of the same old move being overused like this as Luigi destroyed the ball of light that this time came for him. "OK, Luigi. I want you to stomp her head."

"Why?"

"Well, I think another weak attack will be enough to expose her heart again, so when that happens, we'll sick the heart with some Bros Move before her body parts come back." Mario explained.

"Well, that's a pretty smart plan. OK!" Luigi stomped Cackletta with his eyes closed as Cackletta had put on a scary face to mess with him.

Luigi slipped when he connected though, and the attack wasn't as strong, although he managed to trample her head a bit in an attempt not to fall before he slipped off Cackletta, and that did just enough damage for the head to disappear in a puff of smoke. The heart was exposed, and Cackletta's body parts reappeared.

"What?! I thought that was how things worked!" Mario didn't see this coming.

"Too bad, little boys! I don't play by the rules!" Cackletta cackled after not speaking for ages. She shot out another big ball of light at Luigi, which he stopped. She extended their hands at them.

The Bros hammered them away. Her right hand flicked a ball of electricity at Luigi, it knocking him to the floor and taking a bit of damage, the poor guy not seeing it coming at all. Luigi got back up, and did Rally Bros, striking four times.

Then Splash Bros was done to splash out the damage on the heart, too. Cackletta shot out the massive ball of light at Mario, and he stopped it with ease. The fiend's parts were healed by the heart, and her arms tried to flick the Bros, getting hammered away.

Cackletta flicked out a ball of electricity along the ground with her right arm, and it slithered towards Mario, zapping him as it went by. Rally Bros was repeated, getting in three consecutive hits.

"She's really tedious to fight…" Mario panted as he attacked the heart with Drill Bros, drilling at Cackletta's heart. Cackletta healed her body parts, and was counterattacked when she tried to flick the Bros.

"You know we know how to stop most of your attacks already, try something new!" Luigi urged, bored of the repeated attacks and getting hit by a fire snake of two that were summoned by Cackletta's left arm, but after that, he and his brother kept their guard high as they jumped over the fire snakes until they gave up and left the scene for now. The heart retracted back into Cackletta.

Mario destroyed Cackletta's right-hand hand, and Luigi destroyed her left-hand hand.

"FAWFUL!" Cackletta shouted. Just then, Fawful appeared, except he was purple like Cackletta.

"Whoa! It's Fawful!" Mario cried, then realizing the truth. "Wait, no, it's a smoke copy created by Cackletta."

"I have the blasting of your faces of disgustingness!" Fawful shouted.

"He still speaks like Fawful, though." Luigi said as they were pelted by waves of blasts twice. Fawful flew near Mario.

"My chortles' guffaws have at your face!" Fawful said. Mario sighed, and smashed the copy to smoky particles. Mario and Luigi stomped Cackletta, and she called for Fawful again, getting blasted by another wave.

"My face laughs at you!" Fawful taunted as he flew by Luigi.

"Quit saying the same thing!" Luigi cried, smacking the copy to particles again. Mario and Luigi stomped Cackletta once again, and her head disappeared, the heart being exposed in that small puff that was meant to be a chest. "Well, looks like she did some new attack, bro."

"It's better than fire snakes, I'll say that much." Mario stated.

Cackletta's arms and head returned, and her eyes flashed, her right eye going high, and left eye going low. Mario and Luigi were dumbfounded as they heard ticking in the background after a moment, until they saw lasers coming at them.

Mario tried to jump, but he was frozen in place, as was Luigi, who closed his eyes and waited for pain… that never happened, as the laser skimmed the tip of his hat. Mario however, was beamed in the face, yelping in pain as his moustache was suddenly boiling hot. Luckily, he managed to keep it, but the spot below his nose was seething hot.

Cackletta's eyes went haywire, her right one going high, and her left going low. Luigi noticed this, and jumped. Mario prepared to jump, but Luigi intervened.

"Bro, don't jump!" Luigi warned as he suddenly froze in mid-air. "Watch her eyes! When one is high, she's aiming high; so you don't jump! If it's low, she's aiming low; so jump! The right one is for you, and the left is for me! That's how this attack works!"

A laser shot over Mario's head, and another hit where Luigi once stood. Luigi sighed in relief that he got things right. Mario did the same, and thanked his brother as time unfroze. Cackletta's arms extended towards Mario and Luigi, and they were stopped before they did anything… twice.

They then struck five times with Rally Bros, witling down the heart's health further. Mario then gulped an Ultra Mushroom just to be safe, and Cackletta started creating balls of light around her everywhere.

The red ones headed for Mario, the green Luigi, some of them they blocked, others that bombarded them, but in the end, the Bros survived the onslaught of balls of light in really good shape.

Cackletta healed her parts again with her heart, then her right-hand hand flicked a ball of electricity at Luigi successfully, though it didn't really do much. Rally Bros was done once again as it was the most effective Bros Move Luigi led, and struck twice. Cackletta started panting.

"Hey, she's nearly finished!"

"It's time to end this foolish game!" spikes appeared on Cackletta's heart. "Time to heal up all this damage!"

"We can't let her heal! Quick, we need something that can hit hard, and penetrate spikes!" Luigi said.

"Drill Bros!" Mario exclaimed. "That might just do enough damage to end this! Quick, get into position!"

Mario waved his hand, signalling he was about to start, and Luigi was ready, bent down and everything. Mario hopped on to Luigi's back, and bounced off it, spinning into the air as Luigi ran forward and got into a low crouch. Mario flew overhead Luigi, and dropped down on to him, Luigi pushing him with all his might back into the air, and Mario flew overhead Cackletta's heart.

"Time to end this!" Mario shouted, drilling into Cackletta's spiky heart, dealing DOUBLE damage.

"Lucky you're a doctor, bro." Luigi said as Cackletta looked pale from Mario's drilling. "You'd need to be one to do legal heart surgery."

Mario bounced off Cackletta's heart, and landed on Luigi, the two high-fiving each other as Cackletta exploded.

"NO! MY AMBITION! MY PLAN! MY EVERYTHING! **CURSE YOU MARIO BROTHERS!**" Cackletta screamed as she disappeared.

. . .

On the outside of Bowletta, she suddenly felt absolutely wrong on the inside. Like she had a serious stomach-ache.

"Gahhhh! What? Huh? HEY!" Bowletta cried. "What's happening to me?!"

Bowletta coughed up Mario and Luigi like sour tablets that just couldn't stay in there, and exploded to the floor.

"EEYARGH!" Bowletta was on her back, groaning and moaning before Mario and Luigi. "It can't be! Impossible! I… No… How could I… And to this filthy little pair! **HOW COULD I LOSE?**"

"Didn't you just go through all this on the inside?" Mario wondered to himself. "I mean, sheesh, talk about being repetitive. Cackletta's soul, at least, what was left of it, shot out of Bowletta's open mouth, and folded up, exploding. Bowletta suddenly started morphing, and Bowletta became just Bowser again. A door to the northeast opened.

Luigi poked Bowser's exposed stomach as he was on his back. It stayed firm, and didn't jiggle. Mario pulled Luigi away from poking Bowser, and hopped down the ledges, wondering what to do next until Prince Peasley flew into the room, flashing the area as usual.

"Cheers to the superstar siblings!" Prince Peasley greeted. "I have just finished rigging this castle with an explosive device!"

A sweat drop dripped down Mario's face when he heard that.

"WHAT?!" Luigi gasped.

"We must escape before it blows up and falls from the sky! Make haste! I will meet you at the castle entrance!" Prince Peasley flew to the north. "Three minutes!"

Mario and Luigi followed him into the outside, high-jumping up to the door outside, where he was nowhere to be seen when walked through. Mario and Luigi high-jumped up a ledge to the north, dropped off to the east, and headed south back inside.

They ran down some stairs, and Mario hammered Luigi underground and he popped up almost instantaneously into the barrel afterwards, and Mario noticed a high up button to the east.

"MOVE!" Mario picked up Barrel Luigi like he was Donkey Kong, and ran up the stairs they were near, dropping down two levels and placing him before the button. Mario hopped on to the barrel Luigi was in, and smashed the button, the door onwards opening.

Mario picked up Luigi before he could break out of the barrel, and like DK, carried Barrel Luigi to the opened door back outside. By then, they had two and a half minutes left. Mario scrambled up a ledge after going north then west, then headed south back inside, to find themselves at the entrance of the castle.

Mario smashed Luigi out of the barrel, picked him up, and ran dramatically in slow motion across the bridge to Blablanadon who was waiting casually. Mario hurled Luigi on to the bird, and Mario jumped on his head.

"H-Hurry! Prince Peasley told me everything! We've gotta get out of this place! Now!" Blablanadon urged, speaking the same language as Mario; hastiness.

"FLY BLABLANADON, FLY!" Mario ordered as Blablanadon took flight, getting the Bros out of the castle with 2 minutes and 12 seconds remaining. "LIVES ARE ON THE LINE!"

As they got further and further away from the castle, Mario calmed down.

"Sorry about that." He scratched his head as they flew towards the castle that was in sight. "I just didn't want to get blown up after all this hard work…"

Luigi nodded.

. . .

Meanwhile in the throne room, Bowser had woken up.

"…Whoa… Wh-Where am I?" Bowser scratched my head as the images of all the times he had taken control of Bowletta flashed through his mind, in each moment being unaware truly of the events or location. "Wh-What have I been doing?"

**_CRACKLE-RACKLE! BOOM BAM! RUMBLE BRUMBLE!_**

"Whazzat?" Bowser asked no one in particular, confused at the rumbling and exploding.

Bowser's Castle had shaken from the exploding of the devices planted on it, and exploded in one big blast after a few seconds of this, the castle's jetpacks becoming broken and thus the one thing keeping it in the air not working led to the castle falling into the ocean.

Bowser was sent flying out of the castle beforehand, the blast sending him so far that he directly shattered the very fourth wall in construction, and slid down it groaning as he fell from it into the ocean too… landing near some divers investigating an underwater eruption, and being taken back to Beanbean Castle to examine.

. . .

**Beanbean Airport**

Peach bowed as to say goodbye to Queen Bean, Lady Lima and an escort Bean from the castle as she stood beside Mario, Luigi and Toadsworth, who were all in front of the plane Peach flew here in, about to leave.

"Take care, everyone!" Peach said to the Beanbean Kingdom trio. "Please come visit us in the Mushroom Kingdom someday!"

"Princess Peach, you ave a fine group of friends." Queen Bean stated. "I am quite envious!"

"Toadsworth!" Lady Lima cried.

"Lady Lima!" Toadsworth cried.

They ran at each other to have a goodbye hug after all the fun times they've had during the peaceful moments of Mario and Luigi's adventure. Peach was slightly caught off-guard by how suddenly they did this, and gasped quietly. Mario walked up to the escort Bean, recognizing him.

"You're the one who gave me that badge, weren't you?" Mario recalled the moment as he asked the Bean.

. . .

_"Mario! Luigi!" a Bean called. "Lady Lima has asked that you also take this along with you."_

_The Bean placed a Bean Badge in Mario's hand._

_"That thing is a badge. If you equip it, you'll be a little stronger in battle." The Bean explained. "Different badges have different effects, so… For now, if you get a badge, make sure you equip it! To equip it, open your suitcase."_

_"Badges make you stronger? That's awesome!" Mario chirped happily as he opened the suitcase_

_"To equip badges, look in this compartment." The Bean said, then pointing at a mirror. "Using this, you can see the gear and the badge you're equipped with. OK, Mario! Time to equip the badge I just gave you! Open this flap. This is where all the badges are placed. Normally, you'd pick a badge… It's simple this time, since you only have one right now…grab it, and you'll equip the badge!"_

_Mario equipped the Bean Badge._

_"Now you're all set! Good luck! And be careful!"_

_Luigi gave the Bean a poke._

_"Oh, uh… Sorry, Luigi, but if you want your own badge, you'll have to go buy one at the store." The Bean explained nervously as he ran back to the castle._

_Luigi was poking the air now, and Mario just pushed him onwards._

. . .

"Wow, you actually remembered me, Mario. Though it WAS Lady Lima's idea." The Bean stated.

"Well, I'd like to return the favour, to be honest. That badge was helpful for the time I used it." Mario admitted, handing the Bean the Beanstar Badge that took him through the part before the last stretch of his adventure. "So take this, you deserve it."

"Really? Thanks, Mario! I'll treasure it always!" the Bean ran off with the badge merrily.

"Besides, Luigi DID buy me a new one before we entered Bowser's Castle, anyway. So I have that instead." Mario thought to himself as Prince Peasley flew into the scene, and Luigi ran up to him to high-five him, but Prince Peasley had flown high into the air on the blue pillow.

"Princess Peach! Mario Bros!" he exclaimed. "I must thank you all! Accept this gift from me to mark our parting!"

Prince Peasley flashed the area, as a signal for some Beans above to drop a large parcel, causing the group to jump in shock.

. . .

"…and then Fawful and Bowletta thought I was you, then they swiped me instead!" Luigi chuckled as he recalled possibly the best thing he did in that adventure. Mario, Peach and Toadsworth laughed at this merrily as the plane set off, with the parcel Prince Peasley gave them tied to the tail of the plane with a metal chain.

Bowser's head popped out of the parcel, and he sneezed.

. . .

The plane flew over Hoohoo Mountain, Blablanadon waving as he flew by.

"Ah, I remember our little ascent on Hoohoo Mountain, and how we meant Blablanadon." Mario recalled, then shuddering. "Though those lovebirds by the waterfall nearly ended me back in the village."

"Don't forget how there was a murder in the village. That was pretty scary stuff."

. . .

_Mario bashed a block with a Mushroom, and was too impatient to wait for Luigi before bashing a Bros Block, only getting one coin. He left through the exit, bashed some blocks for some coins, a Mushroom, some Syrup, some more coins and a Mushroom, while interrupting a love scene near a waterfall in Mario's haste. The couple chased him all the way back to where Luigi was left behind, grabbing him and jumping off the edge, where the couple growled and said they'd get their revenge._

_"Phew…I'm never doing that again…" Mario said while panting. "Never, ever, ever mess with people in love, words to live by."_

. . .

_They entered a house to pass the time, and it had a female villager there._

_"Hiya." Mario waved._

_"Having a house right above a bridge is strangely convenient. You can dump the owner...er...I mean the garbage...right into the water." she said, correcting her "mistake"._

_Luigi: O.O_

_"The heck?" Mario gasped._

_"Uh, no, it's not like that at all!" she cried, trying to stop the Bros from freaking out._

_"That's not right. That's just not right." Mario shook his head, pacing back and forth._

_"YOU PUSHED THE OWNER INTO THE WATER? WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?" Luigi asked._

_"You're a murderer! A no-good, dirty, rotten murderer!" Mario accused._

_"Get out! Get out! Get out!" she shouted, pushing the Bros out of the house and locking the door._

_"Um..."_

_"Er..."_

_"That was...awkward."_

_"Can we pretend that never happened?"_

_"Let's."_

_. . ._

_"We reached the summit! Yeah!" Mario cheered as they filled up their HP and BP again._

_"I can see Peach's castle from here!" Luigi called from the north-east side._

_"I can see some Hoohoo Blocks, a bird and an egg." Mario replied._

_Luigi ran over, tripped on the stairs and hit a Hoohoo Block in the open to the right._

_"Fooooools!" the bird suddenly yelled out. "What're you kicking that for? That's a really rare stone! It's called a Hoohoo Block! And I'll tell you, anyone who tries to kick a Hoohoo Block down the mountain is a thief in my book!_

_"By the way, who are you?" Mario asked._

_"Huh? My name? Oh… Right! I'm called Blablanadon!"_

. . .

"You can actually see the castle from the peak. It's a great view when you have the time." Luigi said. "Mario told me he saw it when he met up with Blablanadon before we stormed the castle."

And thus, the plane, alongside Blablanadon, flew over Teehee Valley, the Starshade Bros, the doctor from the Little Fungitown Embassy, the owner of the arcade in Little Fungitown, the Toad playing Super Smash Bros and a fair few other Toads were pointing at the plane from the ground.

Prince Peasley flew beside the plane, being in the valley as they flew by. He, like Blablanadon, waved.

"Remember that crazy escort mission, Mario?" Luigi asked, lightly chuckling. "Peach was tearing through those enemies like a dog through a ball!"

"What's that?! How dare you endanger the princess' health, Master Luigi! That was most rash of you!" Toadsworth scolded. "Though on the other hand, I should be grateful the Princess righted your shameful wrongs and managed to defend herself... this time."

. . .

_Mario and Luigi high-fived each other, and hopped up to where Peach was squirming about. Luigi untied her, and she sat up. They all had a group hug._

_. . ._

_"Sorry about that. I didn't realize you had stopped soon enough. I'll do my best to make sure it doesn't happen again!" Peach apologized as a Gritty Goomba snuck up on her. It jumped at her, but Princess Peach wasn't having it. She pulled out a frying pan, and smashed the creature in the face, instantly defeating it._

_Peach levelled up to Level 23! Peach got an extra +4 POW!_

_Mario and Luigi's jaws were dropped. Peach smiled._

_"Like I said, I'm going to do my best to make sure that doesn't happen again." Peach said, putting her frying pan away. "I'm not defenceless, you know."_

. . .

_Mario and Luigi looked back at Peach, and she had apparently untied herself during the battle. Peach shrugged._

_"I may as well quicken the process if I get myself captured." Peach said as they group-hugged, and left the underground area._

. . .

_The Snifit tried shooting a spiky ball at Mario, but it missed and ended up shooting a mushroom at Luigi who caught it gracefully. The other Snifit wasn't interested in grace, and spat a spiky ball at Luigi, stopping the silly act. Mario bowled a large fireball at the Snifit who did this, and it was knocked over. As it was violently jerked back, it shot a mushroom at Mario by accident, and the plumber caught it with a baseball glove he suddenly managed to put on._

_"Aaaaand you're out!" Peach whistled with a pink and blue whistle. Luigi chuckled, and drill kicked the first Snifit, knocking it out. He then followed up by back-flipping, then ground-pounding the other Snifit. It dropped a Red Pepper…which Mario picked up and stored away._

. . .

_As Mario sent Luigi underground with a smash of the hammer, Peach (who was waiting by the gate) noticed a Gritty Goomba approaching her._

_"Aw…are you hungry?" Peach asked, pulling out her frying pan. It nodded, and Peach smashed it out of the valley with a ear-piercing crack caused by the smack of the frying pan. "There. I dished out some damage for you. Hope you liked it!"_

. . .

"The most memorable part was how Luigi, while I was in a dire state, journeyed to Guffawha Ruins just to help me. Once again, thanks for that." Mario thanked as they flew over the Gwarhar Lagoon, seeing the natives there with Hermie and Spangle happily playing his guitar. Hermie waved at them. By this point, the plane was flying solo again.

"I remember when we first met Hermie. That was chaos." Luigi winced, recalling how he was mobbed violently, physically and verbally.

. . .

_In the area to the north, the three natives were adjusting small parts of a giant hermit crab's green Christmas Tree-like shell, placing all kinds of decorations on it, even candy canes. One of them placed the Beanstar Piece on the top._

_"How's that feel, Hermie?" they asked. "Like the look of it?"_

_"Oh! I get a good feel from that! Yethh, I do." Hermie chuckled as Mario and Luigi approached him. "Huhn? Who are you? Have you come to help me decorate, too?"_

_Hermie looked at Mario a bit closer._

_"Why! Red clothes… And a muthtache, even… That meanthh…" Hermie gasped. "C-Could you be…"_

_Mario and Luigi looked at Hermie in slight suspense._

_"THANTA CLAUTH!?" Mario and Luigi fell to the ground. Eventually, Mario and Luigi had the strength to get up again from being duped so badly. Mario shook his head in denial._

_"Nope."_

_"Hermie! What is it?!" a native asked, jumping off Hermie's shell and looking at the Bros. "Oh, wow… On closer inspection, I see you have red clothes and a shiny mustache… Could you be…"_

_Mario jumped to make sure she was actually right._

_"Wow! That jump! Pow! Then it's true! It's true! You're Mario of the Mushroom Kingdom! Stupendular!" the native gasped, turning to the two on Hermie's shell still decorating. "Mario of the Mushroom Kingdom is here! Party on! This is no time to be decorating!"_

_Split-seconds were all the trio needed before they had surrounded Mario from everywhere but west, as that was where Luigi was. Mario was sprinting in circles frantically as he was fangirled._

_"WHOOOAAAA! OUTSTANDING! It's true! It's true! Can I touch your mustache?! Can I have your gloves?! That jump! It's gloriful! Grandular! I cannot WAIT to brag to everyone I know! This RULES! I absolutely MUST take a picture! Where's my camera?! Can I have a bit of your hair?!"_

_Luigi looked at the scene. He knew he had to get Mario out of there. He grabbed Mario and tried pulling him out. Hermie, who was watching all this, wasn't very pleased._

_"Ahh… Oh… My decorationthh…" Hermie mumbled, crestfallen._

_"Huh? Oh… You must be… The president of the Mario Fan Club?" one of the natives asked, the others stopping the harassing of Mario, yet he still sprinted in circles on the spot frantically, unaware of the attack ending._

_Luigi looked at them._

_"No! Wait just a second… Green clothes… Mustache…" one of them analysed._

_"Hey… Any chance that you're… The random brother who always gets left behind?" another asked, walking around to Luigi's west side. The other two stood by Luigi's north and south sides to get a good look. Mario had stopped sprinting now, and realized what was about to happen. He waited._

_"Luigi?"_

_Luigi jumped and nodded, then getting fangirled by the trio, instead._

_"Wow! Are we lucky or what?! How old are you? What's your sign? And your hat size? What's your favourite colour? How do you keep that fine 'stache? Favourite snack? Where do you get your clothes? When's your birthday? OK, your waist? Any hobbies?"_

_"ARRGGHPTHH!" Hermie outraged. The natives ran behind Mario and Luigi, and they all looked at Hermie. "Ppthh! The decorating thtopped, and it ith all becauthe of you!"_

_"Sheesh, talk about an attention seeker." Mario muttered._

_"If you want to cauthe trouble… then you're thtupid!"_

. . .

"And that's when we got the first Beanstar Piece." Luigi said. "Then we met Spangle and made Hermie happy again.

. . .

_"Appthh! Hackthh!" Hermie groaned, lying in a pile. One of the natives tended to him._

_"Please excuse Hermie… He's a little… kooky." They said, the others covering Hermie's face with their bodies, facing the Bros._

_"Gee, I'm sorry, fellas…" one started. "I guess we were in the wrong…"_

_"Anyhoo, I'm sure you two must have had some reason for coming here…"_

_"Yeah, we sorta came here looking for that thing on the top of Hermie's shell." Mario pointed out._

_"Huh? The bean-thing on the shell?"_

_"Well, whoop-de-doo. What's so important about that thing?"_

_"We need it to save a certain princess and stop a certain dragon-witch's plan of world conquest…" Luigi trailed._

_"Wow! Did you hear that, Hermie?" the two natives blocking Hermie parted to let him speak clearly._

_"Uhhnnn… Ith that tho? Then I thuppothe I have no choithe…" Hermie realized, and nudged his shell forward, causing the Beanstar Piece to drop off and land before the Bros. They snapped their fingers, jumped, spun and posed._

_"BEANSTAR!" they both chanted._

. . .

_They smashed 'em up with their new shiny hammers, and headed east. They found some Syrup and a miniature pink starfish with a small blue guitar around him._

_"Uh, well, hey there, fellas. I'm the famous starfish star, Spangle… I'm, uh, pleased to meetcha."_

_"Well, hi, I guess." Mario shrugged._

_"Whoa, now! I tell ya, since I first came here 365 days ago… I ain't seen a soul! Y'all are the first folks I've seen!"_

_"I guess it's because you were behind two very hard rocks that were just broken by our very powered up hammers. I think that in itself explains why you've yet to see anyone." Mario stated the facts._

_"Uh, lemme tell ya… Even a star from way over that big ol' sea… needs a stage to stand on. Unh! Yeah! That's right, baby! Now, uh, tell me fellas… Don't ya'll know a place that'd suit a shining' star like me? C'mon, now!" Spangle urged, eager for an answer._

_"What kind of place?" Luigi asked._

_"Yeah… That's right… A place for a shinin' star like me… Like the top of a festive tree!"_

_"WELL! We know just the place!" Mario exclaimed._

_"Uh, what's that, now?! You know just the place? Well, hot dog, baby! I'm ready to rock 'n' roll!" Spangle cheered. "Uh, say, fellas… Looks like you got yourselves a big ol' suitcase… so how 'bout you let me crash in that thang, baby?"_

_Spangle jumped into the suitcase Mario opened, and closed it. They ran over to Hermie, who repeated what he said about finding something to replace the Beanstar Piece with._

_"Did you bring thomething to trade for the bean-thing? Ehh?" Hermie asked, watching Mario pull out Spangle._

_"Hey, now! Are we there yet?" Spangle asked. He locked eyes with Hermie, and they were both interested._

_"Whoa, nelly! Now that's what I call a festive tree! Amazin'! I'm headin' straight to the top, baby!" Spangle jumped on top of Hermie. "Woo-HOOOO! This is great, baby! I'm a-rockin' this stage!"_

_"You guyth never fail!" Hermie chuckled._

. . .

"Don't forget about when we got the other Beanstar pieces." Mario reminded. "How we designed that weird shirt, fed those Yoshis and defeated Popple again after that Colosseum challenge."

. . .

_Luigi got yellow, restarted, then swiped all six Designbombs, along with a Bean floating with some headgear that was only there for a split-second, but was still caught. Luigi getting brown with a Fawful face on the front. It was so entrancing it looked like it could steal souls... almost literally. Mario and Luigi nearly jumped when that face popped out of nowhere. They looked at Harhall for a response._

_"AMAZING! I LOVE IT!" Harhall shrieked. "It screams entrancement! I just know this will steal the hearts of my adoring public! I have chortles, they would scream!"_

_"Wow." Mario had no other words._

_"Splendid! We're all done here! This means must pay you with a bean-like thing, as promised! Go next door and get your pay!" Harhall ordered, leaving west. Mario and Luigi followed, after Mario let out the rest of the water he had in him._

_There, by the tree and design bodies, was Harhall. Above, was the Beanstar Piece in a cage._

_"See! Here is the bean-like thing I promised you! Take it with you!" Harhall unlocked the cage's flooring, and let the piece fall out before the Bros._

_They snapped their fingers, jumped, spun, and made a pose as they got the piece._

_"BEANSTAR!"_

_You got a Beanstar Piece! Only 2 more to go!_

_"Ah, nice work! You guys are incredible! If I need help again, I'll be coming to you!" Harhall promised. "Be ready for that!"_

_Mario and Luigi nodded as they headed out._

. . .

_"I'm so hungry… I want to eat fruit…" a red Yoshi panted._

_Mario fed it a Bean Fruit._

_"Wow! Fruit! Thank you!" the Yoshi thanked, swallowing it. "At first, they taste just like beans, but then the flavour of fruit oozes out… Bean Fruit is the best!"_

_The Yoshi created an egg, a Neon Egg._

_"Oh, you can take that."_

_Mario then fed the other six, and headed back to Boddle._

_"Hmm. Well done… I did well asking you two. My, Neon Eggs are beautiful. On the sign you go!" Boddle put all seven on the seven spots he could put stuff up on. "Wah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! You did it! You did it!"_

. . .

_The sign was up on the wall, and it looked flashy and amazing._

_Shouts of "Hooray!", "It's complete!", "I have watching!", "Amazing!" and "Awesome!" were heard._

_"Thanks to you two, my theater is now complete! Marvelous!" Boddle thanked. "Very well! As promised… Here is your reward!"_

_Mario and Luigi snapped their fingers, jumped, did a spin and posed again._

_"BEANSTAR!" they cheered._

_You got a Beanstar Piece! Only one more to go!_

_"Excellent! We're going to be rather busy preparing for our grand opening! Pardon us!"_

. . .

_Popple smashed Luigi with the hammer, sending him back to Mario, who jumped over the incoming Luigi and heard him crash into the statue. Mario smashed Popple in the face, and that knocked him out cold._

_Mario levelled up to Level 26! Mario got an extra +3BP!_

_Luigi levelled up to Level 26! Luigi got an extra +5DEF!_

_Mario tried taking back his gloves, but Popple rolled on to his hands, and the guy was pretty heavy. The plumber sighed, and walked back to Luigi, who was a few steps away and had retrieved the Beanstar Piece from Popple._

_They snapped their fingers, jumped, spun and posed as a bush rustled and flew off._

_"BEANSTAR!"_

_You got a Beanstar Piece! You have all four pieces! Hurry! Back to Beanbean Castle!_

_"…N-No! B-But I'm not giving up, see?" Popple jumped to his feet and drilled out of sight. Mario and Luigi walked past the statue in a haste, jumping down via drop-off._

. . .

_Mario and Luigi held up all four Beanstar Pieces, Queen Bean and Toadsworth watching. The pieces floated in the air, and began rotating in a clockwise fashion. A yellow ray of light emanated as the pieces moulded together, once again becoming the Beanstar as a pillar of light shot out from the castle, nearly blowing everyone away._

_The Beanstar is revived! You got the Beanstar!_

_"Hmm… So the Beanstar is finally back to normal…"_

. . .

The plane then flew over some leaping Cheep Cheeps, and they flew over Bowser's non-portable Castle, where a bunch of minions were waiting outside, cheering and howling at Bowser from the ground.

"Hey! Bowser's the present?!" Luigi gasped, peeking out the window, looking back at Bowser.

"Green stache! Drop me off here!" Bowser ordered, then sneezing.

"Uh, guys? Bowser's the present, so we might want to drop him off here." Luigi stated.

"Well, I've got an idea." Mario said, peeking out the window and looking at Bowser.

"MARIO! What's the holdup?" Bowser asked. "My minions are needing their great and mighty king! Drop me off!"

"We can't exactly do that… so here's an idea. I'll blast this chain with my fireballs, and you'll blast it with your flame breath. If we do that, we'll burn this chain off and everyone will be happy." Mario explained. Bowser nodded. "So on the count of three. One. Two. Three!"

Mario blasted the chain with a large charged fireball, and Bowser blasted the chain with a beam of fire, focusing it on the chain and not damaging the plane at all.

Soon enough, the chain fell off, and Bowser cheered as he fell into the mouth of the Bowser head on the top of the castle, landing in his throne room. The troops cheered, most of them running inside to greet their ruler.

The plane then flew over Toad Town… where it was now night-time.

"You know, seeing Toad Town here makes me realize how homesick I feel now. It's good to be home." Mario said as they left Toad Town and was approaching Peach's Castle.

"Well, I guess this ends our adventure." Luigi said as they flew on to the landing site on the roof of the castle smoothly.

"Thanks for everything, Mario and Luigi." Peach thanked, waving them goodbye as they left the castle walls, and soon were approaching their house in the distance.

"Good job, bro." Mario praised as they entered the house. "You did great."

"Thanks, bro." Luigi said as they got into their respective beds, having a good night's rest, and thus, like Luigi said, ending their adventure… their great tale... their Superstar Story.

* * *

**As you can probably tell, the latter half of this chapter was mostly a trip down memory lane, due to the way the credits of this game plays out.**

**Well, I guess that's that. It's been a truly fun road with this story, and I'm glad that it took off somewhat well. Thanks to all who supported me, whether you reviewed, followed, favourite or even just read silently, it all helped me write that extra word, and for that, I'd like to say thanks.**

**And to those who find this story after its completion and all you people of the future who read it, I thank you just as much for making my first story as successful as it was and continues to be! ^-^**

**Now, with M&L4 coming out, the idea of a sequel has popped into my mind, though it would have anyway eventually, if you ask me. While your thoughts won't exactly sway where I stand on a sequel, what do you think about one, and maybe even a whole series somewhere along the line? Share your thoughts, if any!**


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